jLfl 334 

1921 
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REPORT ON THE 

NEW MEXICO 

STATE EDUCATIONAL 

INSTITUTIONS 

TO THE ^/-^l ^ I 

NEW MEXICO SPECIAL REVENUE 
COMMISSION 

BY 

WILLIAM C. BAGLEY, Ph. D. 

Professor of Education, Teachers' College 

Columbia University 




FEBRUARY, 1921 









REPORT ON THE 

NEW MEXICO STATE 
EDUCATIONAL INTSITUTIONS 

AND THE 

GENERAL EDUCATION SYSTEM 
OF NEW MEXICO 

BY W. C. BAGLEY, Ph. D. 

of the Teachers' College 
Columbia University 

With Letters From 

PROFESSOR E. P. CUBBERLY and 
PROFESSOR GEO. D. STRAYER 

TO THE 

NEW MEXICO SPECIAL REVENUE 
COMMISSION 



SANTA FE, FEBRUARY, 1921 






(^^ 



Printed by 

The Santa Fe New Mexican Publishing Corporation 

Santa Fe, New Mexico 



LIBi=?ARY OF CONGRESS 


?^'"".'vi;'5 


FEB281921 


DOCUMENTS DIVISION 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page 

Foreword 5 

Introduction 9 

School Population 10 

Teaching Population 11 

State Higher Institutions 21 

Normal Schools 21 

University 29 

School of Mines 32 

College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts 33 

Military Institute 37 

Reorganization Possibilities 37 

One Institution 45 

Two Institutions , 48 

Three Institutions '. 49 

Letter of Dr. Cubberley 55 

Letter of Dr. Strayer 59 

Appendix '. ■ 60 



FOREWORD. 

The Revenue Commission in concluding its work presents 
herewith a report of Professor William C. Bagley on the edu- 
cational situation in New Mexico, and its state educational in- 
stitutions. 

Every legislature is confronted with the problem of pro- 
viding for the constantly increasing needs of these institu- 
tions.^ This problem as now presented to the legislature may 
be said to be critical, but the demands of the institutions, as 
shown by the budget, and the difficulty of meeting these de- 
mands were never so great as at the present time. 

It is very difficult under prevailing conditions for anyone 
in the state to fairly judge questions of institutional reorgani- 
zation. Members of the legislature from Silver City, Las Cru- 
ces, El Rito, Socorro, Albuquerque, and Roswell are elected 
with the express or implied mandate of their constituents that 
one of their first duties is to see to it that they get their share 
of appropriations for the institutions located in their respective 
districts. For the institutions located in these seven toAvns 
there was appropriated for the last biennium the sum of $755,- 
825.45, and for the same institutions the requests for appro- 
priations for the next biennium amount to $2,327,022.82. It 
is, of course, out of the question that all of these requests 
should, even under favorable conditions, be granted. But it is 
true that most of these estimates submitted by the sponsors 
of the various institutions are not unreasonable if the institu- 
tions as now organized and located are to be properly provided 
for. To properly provide for them is, of course, quite imposs- 
ible. With our other governmental burdens there is not 
enough taxable wealth in the state to do so. That this is a 
fact has already been clearly demonstrated. 

Whether or not a reorganization of these schools can be 
effected which will insure a better return to the taxpayers, 
upon the investment they are making in their maintenance, is 
a question which has been perfunctorily discussed for many 
years. It has never been definitely and clearly investigated. 
No such investigation has ever before been seriously initiated. 
But there is a clear and incisive demand that the matter be 
vigorously and honestly examined into, so that the people and 
their representatives may knoAv where and how we stand. 

We are faced with the alternative of continuing these in- 
stitutions in their present status which, as regards the most of 
them, is quite unsatisfactory, or of finding some way of chang- 



6 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

ing the status so that with the resources available they may be 
made to show an adequate return on the investment. 

It was in a sincere endeavor to meet this demand, and to 
define the issue that the Revenue Commission secured the serv- 
ices of Dr. Bagley for the investigation which has resulted in 
the present report. There is no one in the country better quali- 
fied than he to pass upon the question, and nothing that I 
could say would add anything to the force of his statements. 
Professor Bagley has made it clear in the beginning of his re- 
port that his work here should not be looked upon in any sense 
as a "survey," which would require a much longer time than 
that for Avhich we were able to secure his assistance. His work 
may, perhaps, properly be called a diagnosis, after consultation 
with other eminently qualified judges, of our present troubles. 
He suggests three alternative plans for a remedy. That he has 
made a very careful study of our situation as a whole is 
clearly apparent from the report itself, and the fact that he 
spent but a short time on the ground will not militate against 
the soundness of his conclusions. 

What is particularly significant about the report is that it 
treats the question of our higher educational institutions from 
the standpoint of their maximum usefulness as integral parts 
of the general educational system of the state. That the state's 
taxpaying ability insofar as it is available for educational pur- 
poses should be used first and foremost for the best possible 
primary education of our children in rural, graded, and high 
schools seems clear. Viewed from this standpoint, — and it is a 
sensible and conservative standpoint, — the questions as to pos- 
sible reorganization or centralization of our present institu- 
tions become at once less complex and confusing. We have a 
definite goal to aim at- — one that can be reached with the 
strength and resources at our disposal. 

Professor Bagley frankly states his firm conviction that 
the most fundamental of all educational problems, in any state, 
is the provision of competent teachers for the lower schools, 
and admits that his judgment in this respect may be questioned. 

The more one studies the problem in this state, the more 
one must be convinced that so far as we are concerned the 
sooner Ave come to the same conclusion, and bend our energies 
toward solving the problem, primarily from that angle, the bet- 
ter it will be. This does not mean — nor does Prof. Bagley so 
intimate — that we should not constantly bear in mind the ac- 
companying development of academic and professional schools 
in connection with a university. On the contrary he points out 
very clearly how this may be most effectively accomplished 
with the resources at our disposal. Only, he says — and this, I 
am sure, is true — the training of teachers for our lower grades 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 7 

should be the central motive in plans for the reorganizing of 
our state educational institutions. 

There has been introduced in the legislature by Senators 
Hedgecock and Brickley, a Republican and a Democrat, the fol- 
lowing joint resolution : 

"Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of 
New Mexico that Section 13 of Article XII of the 
Constitution be amended to read as follows: 

"The Legislature may provide for the merger, 
consolidation, change of location, management and 
control of State Institutions and State Educational 
Institutions." 

Sections 11 and 12 of the same Article confirm as state 
educational institutions the nine institutions as they are now 
established. Section 13, as now drawn, provides for the con- 
trol and management of these institutions by a board of reg- 
ents for each institution. 

The proposed amendment is absolutely essential as a pre- 
liminary step toward the consideration of any change from the 
present status of these institutions, either along the lines sug- 
gested by Professor Bagley, or along any other lines. Neither 
the passage of this joint resolution proposing the amendment, 
nor the passage of the amendment would bind the legislature 
to any particular course in connection Avith any re-organization 
of our institutions. What it would do woulcl be to give to a 
future legislature the power to effect such changes in the ad- 
ministrative program of our state educational institutions as 
they may decide are necessary. 

It is both a condition and a theory that confront us. 
The condition is that we have a system of state educational 
institutions which cannot be properly provided for in their 
present status. 

^ The theory is that they must not only all be maintained in 
their present status, but by means of greatly increased appro- 
priations be given the power to become actually efficient for 
the purposes for which they were founded. 

If power be given the legislature, through a constitutional 
amendment to reorganize these institutions, or some of them, 
an effective reorganization can be brought about if there ac- 
tually be a determination to bring it about. It can never be 
brought about unless the controlling motive in considering the 
question be to actually co-ordinate the state 's system of higher 
education on state-wide lines. If it be determined that such a 
change is not desirable, and that the present situation is to be 
indefinitely maintained — then none of the institutions as at 



8 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

present established should be penalized because they have been 
efficiently and successfully administered. 

In addition to the letter of Professor Bagley, is published, 
a letter from Professor E. P. Cubberly, who is Professor of Ed- 
ucation at Leland Stanford Junior University, and another 
from Professor G. D. Strayer of Columbia University, both con- 
firming in practically every respect Professor Bagley 's views. 

Both of these gentlemen are well known as authorities on 
subjects of Educational Organization. In addition to many 
works on these subjects. Professor Cubberly recently drafted 
a Report of the Special Legislative Committee on Education 
of the State Legislature of California which is a masterly pre- 
sentation of the subject. 

H. J. IIAGERMAN, 

Chairman of the New Mexico Special Revenue Commission. 
Santa Fe, February 15, 1921. 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 9 

REPORT ON NEW MEXICO EDUCATIONAL 
INSTITUTIONS. 

December 18, ]920. 

The New Mexico Special Revenue Commission, 
Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

Gentlemen : 

On the invitation of Mr. H. J. Hagerman, Chairman of the 
Special Revenue Commission, I spent the period between Octo- 
ber seventh and October fifteenth, inclusive, in a study of the 
higher state educational institutions of New Mexico. I visited 
the following schools : the State Normal University ; the Uni- 
versity of New Mexico ; the State School of Mines ; the State 
Agricultural College ; and the State Normal School at Silver 
City. I also visited Santa Fe for the purpose of conferring with 
the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. My trip 
through New Mexico was personally conducted by Mr. R. F. 
Asplund, Secretary of the Special Revenue Commission, who 
showed me every possible courtesy and whose intimate know- 
ledge of the state and of its educational problems was of very 
great value in orienting me in the work that I was asked to do. 

I interpreted my mission in New Mexico to be that of ex- 
amining the hi§lier institutions with especial reference to the 
service that they are rendering to the State as a return upon 
the investment that the taxpayers are making in their main- 
tenance. My work should not be looked upon as in any sense 
a "survey" of these institutions as this term is now used in 
educational discussions. An adequate survey would require at 
least tAvo or three months' study of the situation on the ground, 
and perhaps as long a time in the preparation of a report. I 
spent in the State onl^^ eight days in all, and my study of the 
several institutions was necessarily limited to the collection of 
information that could be gathered quickly. I have had at hand 
in the preparation of my report, of course, additional data fur- 
nished by the schools' publications and by correspondence. 
What I have to say is confined chiefly to the "reactions" of an 
outsider who is somewhat familiar Avith the general problem 
of higher and professional education and who is interpreting 
the specific facts presented by New IMexico's higher institu- 
tions in the light of this general information. 

In the report, I shall first summarize my impressions of 
the general educational situation in New Mexico, for it is clear 
that the special problems of the State's higher institutions 
cannot safely be separated from the larger problem which in- 
volves the entire educational system of the commonAvealth. 



10 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

1. THE SCHOOL POPULATION. 

New Mexico, with a total population of 360,000 (1920 cen- 
sus) had, in 1917, a school population (all persons between the 
ages of five and twenty-one years) of 106,310 (U. S. Com. Re- 
port 1917-18). The average daily attendance in public schools 
was 62.9% of the enrollment. The public high schools, in 1920, 
graduated from their four-year courses 452 pupils. 

It is clear, then, that the number of New Mexico children 
prepared for higher instruction each year is relatively small. 
Proportionately to the total population, New Mexico may be 
compared with the following states : 

Population H. S. Graduates Proportion 

(1920) (1916) 1000 Pop. 

New Mexico 360,247 334 0.90 

Arizona - 333,273 330 0.99 

Colorado 939,376 2387 2.5 

Idaho 431,826 1072 2.4 

Montana 547,593 851 1.5 

Utah 449,446 804 1.8 

Nevada 81,875 121 1.4 

Wyoming 194,402 327 1.7 

(Note : 1916 is the latest year for which data from all of 
these states are available.) 

The high schools of the state seem to be relatively less well 
developed than in the other Mountain states. The rank of New 
Mexico among all of the states in proportion of high school en- 
rollment to total school enrollment is very Ioav — fourth from 
the bottom of the list. The graduates from New Mexico high 
schools under present conditions, indeed, would be very thinly 
spread among the State's collegiate institutions, even if all of 
these graduates went on to higher education and attended the 
degree-granting colleges of their own state. 

If this situation were to be long continued — if the general 
population should be thought of as growing slowly and the 
proportion of high school graduates to the total population as 
remaining relatively stationary — its bearing upon the question 
of the consolidation of the higher institutions would be obvious. 
There w411 be a limit, of course, to the state's population. It is 
possible that New IMexico will at some time in the future sup- 
port a population three or four times as large as the number 
of people now residing within its borders. But even accepting 
this as a reasonable prediction, the increase is likely to be slow. 

Passing to the question. Will the proportion of high school 
graduates to the general population remain stationary? a clear- 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 11 

ly negative answer is justified. The tendency throughout the 
country for thirty years has been very decidedly toward larger 
high school enrollments and proportionate increases in the 
number of high school graduates. I was informed by State 
Superintendent J. H. Wagner that the number of pupils com- 
pleting the eighth grade of the elementary schools of New 
Mexico had practically doubled within two years. The number 
for 1920 was 2202. With increased high school facilities, it is 
not too much to expect that New Mexico within a few years 
will graduate from 800 to 1000 pupils annually from its high 
schools, and the number may rise Avithin three decades to 1200 
or 1500 even without large increases in the total population. 
On this basis, entering classes of 700 or 800 for the state 's high- 
er institutions could be reasonably predicted. 

These estimates leave out of account students coming from 
other states. It is clear, however, that these will be partially 
balanced by New Mexico students going elsewhere. In any 
case, it would be unwise to judge of the demand for higher edu- 
cation in New Mexico during the next three decades either by 
the very small enrollment of the collegiate institutions today 
or by the relatively low proportion of high school graduates to 
the general population. The forces that have worked for larger 
high school enrollments in Arizona, Wyoming and Utah will 
come soon to work for larger enrollments in New Mexico. In- 
deed, the recent remarkable increases in the number of ele- 
mentary school graduates is q^uite conclusive evidence that a 
gratifying era of educational development for New Mexico lies 
within the immediate future. 

The high school situation also involves another problem 
in connection with the higher institutions — namely, the justifi- 
cation of preparatory or secondary departments in connection 
with the colleges. I shall refer to this in some detail later. 
Here it is sufficient to point out that New Mexico is still very 
weak in its provision of high school facilities. Those interested 
in higher education in New Mexico might well make it one of 
their first aims to direct the attention of the people of the state 
toward plans and policies for the encouragement of high 
schools. States that are similarly situated have met this prob- 
lem, and in one way or another, have taken steps toward its 
solution. The rural high schools of Idaho and the county high 
schools of Montana and Colorado are cases in point. 

II. THE TEACHING POPULATION. 

Quite the first business of the state's higher institutions is 
the preparation of competent teachers for the public schools. 
To gain even a superficial understanding of the problems of 



12 UEPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

higher education in a state, then, one must know something 
of the personnel of the public school service, especially the 
salient facts regarding preparation, tenure, and annual "turn- 
over." This is important from the point of view of the teacher 
training function of the colleges and the normal schools; it is 
equally important from the point of view of the general effi- 
ciency of the higher institutions — for such efficiency depends 
in part upon the thoroughness with which the lower schools do 
their work. 

The teaching population (elementary and high schools) 
was reported to me by State Superintendent Wagner as 2,760 
for the school year 1920-21. The distribution* among schools is 
as follows : 
One and two room schools : 

(Rural schools and some village schools) 843 

Other village, town and city elementary schools 1,643 

High Schools 274 



2,760 



These teachers are licensed under various forms of certifi- 
cates, the distributionf of which is as follows : 

Teachers holding first grade certificates or better _ 1,899 

Teachers holding second grade certificates 462 

Teachers holding third grade certificates 216 



2.577 



The large proportion of teachers holding the higher grades 
of certificates is especially significant. The counties vary wide- 
ly in this respect. In Eddy and Chaves counties, all teachers 
hold first-grade certificates or better — a remarkable showing, 
especially in view of the shortage of trained teachers that has 
prevailed throughout the country since 1917. Grant, Hidalgo. 
Luna, McKinley, San Juan, De Baca, Curry and Otero also 
make excellent records. The low-grade certificates are found 
in largest numbers in San Miguel, Guadalupe, Mora and Union; 
while Torrance, Socorro and Valencia occupy a middle ground. 

These facts have a close bearing upon the teacher-training 



* This distribution is only approximate and is based upon the 
teaching positions listed in the New Mexico Educational Directory for 
1919-20. 

t The distribution is based on data furnished by Mr. R. F. Asplund. 
The discrepancy between the totals in this and the preceding table is 
doubtless to be explained by the fact that a number of teachers hold 
special licenses while others are teaching on provisional "permits." 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 13 

problem. Certainly the time should not be far in the future 
when the state of New Mexico can dispense entirely with the 
services of low-grade, untrained teachers. Two-thirds of all 
teachers now hold first-grade certificates or better, and one- 
half of those holding first-grade certificates have been granted 
these credentials on the basis of work done in normal schools 
and colleges ; — in other words, more than one-third of the teach- 
ers now employed have had some measure of advanced insti- 
tutional training in preparation for their work. The State 
Superintendent, in response to one of my questions, gave it as 
his opinion that the state is now in a position to demand insti- 
tutional training of all teachers. This would bring New Mexi- 
co into line with the most progressive of the Rocky Mountain 
and Pacific Coast states. 

If the training of all teachers is to be placed on an insti- 
tutional basis, the question arises. What level of educational at- 
tainment should that basis represent? Let me refer again to the 
fact that more than one-half of the first-grade certificates are 
now granted on the basis of credits earned in normal schools 
and colleges. Let me also emphasize the fact that the scale of 
salaries for all teachers in New Mexico has been measurably 
advanced within the past three years, and that, with the return 
of living costs to a normal level, the State will be justified in 
raising very significantly the standards of admission to the 
public school service. Finally let me refer to the fact that a 
substantial increase in state-wide standards at the present time 
would be seriously felt only in a half-dozen counties in the 
northeastern section of the State- — for in practically all of the 
remaining counties the great majority of the teachers already 
represent a fairly high level of education and training. 

Under these conditions, I should urge the serious consid- 
eration of the following policy: 

1. The abandonment of the present third-grade certificate 
within two years ; the granting or rene^^'al of third-grade cer- 
tificates for the year 1921-22 to be conditioned on six weeks' at- 
tendance at one of the two normal schools in the summer of 
1921. 

2. The provision of a temporary certificate good for one 
year only and granted on the basis of a minimum of one year's 
high school work plus a minimum of six weeks' professional 
training in a normal school. This minimum standard shotuld 
be held to for only one year. The term of all such certificates 
should expire automatically in June, 1923. 

3. Beginning with the school year, 1923-24. the require- 
ment of a two-year high school education plus three months' 
professional training in a higher professional institution. By 
operating the normal schools for a three months' summer term 



14 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

in 1922 and 1923 it would be possible to meet the needs of the 
teachers who had the two-year high school preparation, but 
who lacked the professional training, 

4. Beginning with the school year, 1924-25, the require- 
ment of a three-year high school education plus nine months 
(one school year) of professional training in a higher profes- 
sional institution. 

5. Beginning with the school year 1926-27, the require- 
ment of a four-year high school education plus two years of 
professional training in a higher professional institution. 

It would thus be practicable within seven years to raise 
the level of the public school service in New Mexico to the plane 
now recognized as constituting the lowest acceptable minimum 
for teachers of any grade ; namely two years of professional 
preparation upon the basis of a four-year high school education. 
I should earnestly recommend the requirement of four years 
of preparation on the collegiate level not later than 1930. 

The chief difficulty in setting this standard in New Mexico 
is the rural school situation, and yet, in several counties, each 
having a large number of schools in the open country, the one- 
year and two-year standards have already been closely ap- 
proached. The problem can be solved. For the sake of New 
Mexico's children its progressive solution through a ten-year 
program, should in my judgment, be the first large step that 
the State takes toward the betterment of its school system. 

I am aware of the difficulties imposed by the Spanish- 
American schools in the rural districts — 'difficulties that com- 
plicate the educational problem in New Mexico in a measure 
perhaps unapproached in any other state of the Union. I am 
also aware that the State inherited this problem from the long 
territorial years during which the Federal government neglect- 
ed its plain duty of assimilating the population that it acquired 
through the treaty of Hidalgo Guadalupe. But all this does 
not lessen the need for better schools and for better teachers in 
many of the village and open-country schools of New Mexico. 
I learned that there are rural schools in New Mexico, the teach- 
ers of which have had only sixth grade education. One of these 
schools I personally visited. In several schools, the English 
language is practically unheard; in many it is very inadequate- 
ly taught as a "foreign language." I quote from the manu- 
script report of one of the rural school supervisors, dated Octo- 
ber 3, 1920 : 

"In spite of all efforts a large numbei' of teachers are 
still conducting all of their work in Spanish, and as a con- 
sequence the children know little or no spoken English. 
Many of the progressive Spanish-speaking people have ex- 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 15 

pressed their dissatisfaction with conditions in this re- 
spect, and have earnestly requested that they be supplied 
with teachers who will teach their children to speak Eng- 
lish. The practice of translating everything into Spanish 
is working an irreparable injury to the children. So long 
as they know that all their school work and all directions 
given in the school room will be translated into Spanish 
there is but little incentive to learn English, and they see 
no real necessity of applying themselves in order to learn 
the spoken language. The teachers of our town and city 
schools made this discovery long ago. They confine them- 
selves to the English language and give no translation 
and, as a result, a few weeks after entering school their 
little folks are able to understand and to make themselves 
understood in English, and at the end of a few months 
they speak the language fairly well. If a teacher can be 
induced to confine herself to the English while in the 
school room, she accomplishes more in a few weeks than 
she does in ten years through translation. In some m- 
stances I have worked with teachers until a great im- 
provement was evident ; but upon returning to the schools 
a few weeks later have found that they have gone back 
to the old practice of translating as this is much easier 
than to teach the children to understand and to speak 
English ****** 

''As all of our schools are not yet supplied with teach- 
ers, I am unable to tabulate information in regard to the 
grade of certificates held but I believe that our rank will 
be much lower than it was last year. It has not been a 
difficult year to secure teachers, but w^e have many teach- 
ers who are teaching on permits. I should strongly recom- 
mend that no one be given a position unless he holds a 
certificate at the time he is employed. There are several 
young girls teaching who failed to secure certificates at 
the August examination and who received such low aver- 
ages that it is almost a certainty that they will fail in Oc- 
tober. They will either have to continue teaching without 
certificates or other teachers will have to be secured to 
take their places. In either case the effects will be bad 
for both teachers and children. These girls told me that 
if they had not secured schools this year they would have 
attended school, and I believe that by next year they could 
have qualified for second grade certificates. We have one 
teacher who, so far as I can learn, has never held a certi- 
ficate. This summer he attended summer school ten days 
and failed as usual at the August examination. We still 
have several men teaching who do not understand enough 



16 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

spoken English to enable them to take instruction in 
methods in the English language, and who could not con- 
fine themselves to English if they desired. The condition 
of our schools is, I firmly believe, keeping out many well- 
to-do progressive English-speaking people. Many men 
have told me that they would like to rnake permanent 
homes here. They think it a splendid opportunity for 
their children to learn Spanish but they do not want them 
to acquire a knowledge of the language at the expense of 
their English education; so they are opposed to placing 
them in schools in charge of teachers who speak very poor 
English and who conduct their schools in the Spanish 
language. We have two Spanish-speaking girls teaching 
in English-speaking districts this year, and they are giv- 
ing splendid satisfaction ; but they both speak good Eng- 
lish and are conducting their schools in English. We have 
lost several of our best teachers this year. In several eases 
they gave as their reason for leaving us that we did not 
have sufficient school furniture, equipment or conven- 
iences in our schools. 

''Having gathered information from every possible 
source, I believe that we rank lower than most other coun- 
ties in the State in the grade of certificates held by our 
teachers, in school room furniture and equipment and in 
the knowledge of spoken English which our children 
possess." 

In all probability, the problem of the Spanish-American 
rural districts cannot be permanently solved until each isolated 
school has its teachers' cottage where the two or three teachers 
employed in the school can live in some measure of comfort, or 
where a man and his wife can make a comfortable home. In 
the northwestern states, especially Washington, this policy of 
providing ''teachorages" for the open-country schools is gi'ad- 
ually transforming these isolated posts into attractive positions 
in which good teachers are willing to serve for extended periods 
of time. 

But pending this solution of the problem in New Mexico, 
there would seem to be no good reason why the obstacles that 
block educational advancement in certain limited sections 
should be permitted to check progress throughout the State. 

Assuming that the preparation of all teachers is to be 
placed upon an institutional basis and within a few years upon 
a collegiate basis, it is necessary to answer the question. What 
will this mean to the State in cost of preparing a sufficient 
number of teachers to meet these higher standards? 

This leads to a consideration of the annual "turnover" in 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 17 

public school service. The State Superintendent reports the 
annual turnover in the rural school service to be one in three. 
The percentage this year for twenty of the twenty-seven coun- 
ties in the State appear in the following table, furnished by the 
State Superintendent 's office : 

County Percentage New Teachers 

Employed, or Turnover 

Bernalillo 18% 

Chaves : 50% 

Colfax 40% 

Curry 

De Baca 46% 

Dona Ana 38% 

Eddy 35% 

Grant : 50% 

Gruadalupe ; 

Hidalgo 72% 

Lea 52% 

Lincoln 17% 

Luna 50% 

McKinley 49i^% 

Mora 

Otero 50% 

Quay 40% 

Rio Arriba 33^^ 

Roosevelt 

Sandoval 33% 

San Juan 35% 

San Mig^iel 

Santa Fe 20% 

Sierra 

Socorro 

Taos 13% 

Torrence 50% 

Union 51% 

Valencia 

If the average turnover be 33 1-3 per cent, the estimate 
given to me by State Superintendent Wagner, the number of 
new teachers needed for the rural schools each year upon the 
present population-basis would be approximately 185. To pro- 
vide for all contingencies, let us place the number at 200. 

Town and city elementary teachers usually serve much 
longer than rural school teachers. Taking the country as a 
Avhole, the average term of service I have estimated as about 
nine years. Li New Mexico the term is probably shorter, inas- 



18 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

much as about one-half of the town and city elementary teach- 
ers come from other states and "move on" after remaining in 
New Mexico for a year or two. This migrating character of 
the teaching personnel is unfortunate for the New Mexico 
schools for it means that large numbers of teachers have no 
vital interest in the State and its problems. One way to correct 
this defect is to prepare a larger number of New Mexico young- 
people for this service. This policy, State Superintendent Wag- 
ner assured me, would do much to stabilize the sendee and to 
extend the average professional "life" of the teacher. 

I have estimated the annual "turnover" in the town and 
city elementary schools at one in seven. The State Superin- 
tendent's office has recently informed me that the turnover 
in this branch of the service last year was almost exactly this 
— fifteen per cent. If this proportion be taken as represent- 
ing the normal "turnover," the number of urban elementary 
teachers needed annually on the present population basis would 
be in the neighborhood of 236 — let us say 250 for good measure. 

High school teachers' tenure is extremely variable in the 
different states. In New Mexico, the period of service is ap- 
parently longer than in most states- — a "turnover" of one- 
tenth is reported by Mr. Wagner. This means that about 27 new 
high school teachers are needed each year. There is here, how- 
ever, the need of a predictable increase to be taken into con- 
sideration, and the number that will be required each year for 
the next decade may safely be placed at 40. 

One can look forward, then, to a maximum of 200 rural 
school teachers, 250 graded school teachers, and 40 high school 
teachers needed each year on the present population-basis as 
recruits for the public school service — a total of 490 in all. 

The population will increase, of course, but with a thor- 
ough-going program for the more extended preparation of 
teachers there is no reason to believe that this number of re- 
cruits needed for the public school service will be greatly aug- 
mented during the next few decades (except possibly for the 
high schools), for it is a fairly well established law that leng-th 
of service increases with length of training — hence the propor- 
tion of new teachers required each year will actually decrease 
and even the numbers themselves may decrease as the require- 
ments for admission to the service are advanced and the aver- 
age tenure of the individual teacher is extended. It should 
also be said that the above estimates represent a maximum 
rather than a minimum of expectancy, and it should be further 
said that the estimates leave out of account the teachers who 
may come from other states. 

It should not be an impossible task for the normal schools 
of New Mexico to prepare 200 teachers each vear for the rural 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 19 

school service and 250 for the graded school service, requiring 
from each four years of high school preparation for entrance to 
the higher institution and graduating certificated teachers only 
after a minimum of two years of specialized preparation for the 
important service that they are to enter. This would mean an 
enrollment in teacher-training courses of about 950 students. 
It would mean entering classes of approximately 500 students 
and here the chief difficulty will lie, for this is more than the 
present total output (452) of four-year high schools in New 
Mexico. The difficulty, however, is more apparent than real. 
Until the local and county high schools are in a position to con- 
tribute a larger number of entering students, the teacher-train- 
ing institutions themselves will be justified in supporting as 
they do now secondary or preparatory departments which will 
attract large numbers of pupils from districts where high school 
facilities are not now available. 

The cost to the State of carrying out such a program of 
teacher-preparation would of course exceed what the State is 
now spending for teacher-training ; — but it should be remem- 
bered that, under its present expenditures, it is adequately pre- 
paring only a handful of teachers. The per capita cost of in- 
struction in teacher-training institutions of the type that I have 
in mind will be about $400 annually exclusive of whatever pay- 
ments are made for transportation of students to and from their 
homes. The institutions would enroll in all 950 students ; thus 
the annual cost of maintenance would be $380,000. Today the 
normal schools have a combined annual budget about one-third 
as large as this but they are not preparing one-tenth of the 
teachers that the State needs. By effecting in them and in 
other state-supported institutions economies the nature of 
which Avill be suggested later, the State, without seriously in- 
creasing its tax-burden, could step forward to this ncAv level 
in the discharge of what is clearly and indisputably its most 
important function — the preparation of teachers for its public 
schools. 

There is another fact in this connection that deserves large 
emphasis. The program that I have suggested, if properly 
worked out and administered, will increase beyond all measure 
the efficiency of the public school system. This, in turn, will 
be reflected in the students who go on to the higher institutions, 
and the institutions themselves "sHll be in a position to do much 
better work and to make a larger return to the taxpayers 
through the actual service rendered to the State by their gradu- 
ates in all departments. 

I should not wish to conclude this phase of the discussion 
without again emphasizing my belief that the minimum of two 
years beyond high school graduation that I have referred to as 



20 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

the lowest acceptable standard in the preparation of teachers 
should be extended to three and ultimately to four years. Pro- 
gressive states are already planning for such extensions. Cali- 
fornia will soon go to the four-year basis ; New York will pass 
within a year to a three-year basis with the prospect of a speedy 
advance to the four-year level ; Washington is considering simi- 
larly progressive policies ; New Mexico will wish, I am sure, to 
do no less for its children once the value of a more extended 
preparation for public school teachers has been clearly dem- 
onstrated. 

The preparation of high school teachers has until recently 
been looked upon as a function of the liberal arts colleges 
rather than as a function of the normal schools. The present 
tendency among students of the problem is to minimize distinc- 
tions between the elementary and high school teachers and to 
insist that all teaching positions in the public school service be 
recognized as of equal significance. I have just referred to a 
parallel tendency in some of the progressive states to extend 
the period of training for elementary teachers and to adopt 
policies looking toward the time when all teachers will have a 
minimum of four years' preparation beyond high school gradu- 
ation. Other states have anticipated this movement by permit- 
ting their normal schools to offer four-year programs for the 
preparation of high school teachers. 

This last policy involves dangers that demand serious con- 
sideration. The most significant of these is that the normal 
schools in their effort to prepare high school teachers will ne- 
glect the more important service of preparing elementary teach- 
ers. The ideal of equal training for both types of teachers is, 
in my judgment, worth striving to attain at the earliest pos- 
sible moment; but in some of the states where the normal 
schools have undertaken the preparation of high school teach- 
ers the advancement of the requirements for elementary teach- 
ers has been actually delayed, the courses for the elementary 
teachers have been neglected, and students have been either 
pointed away from the elementary service or encouraged to use 
it as a stepping-stone to high school appointments. 

Wherever normal schools can profitably offer well con- 
structed three-year and four-year programs for elementary 
teachers, there would be certainly no danger and conceivably 
large advantages in also offering four-year programs for pros- 
pective secondary teachers, provided, of course, that they are 
equipped and staffed to undertake this additional work. There 
are undeniable advantages in having all types of public school 
teachers prepared in the same institution ; and there is an ob- 
vious injustice to the elementary school service in having the 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 21 

normal schools which prepare for that service rated lower than 
any other group of professional institutions. 

Under present conditions in New Mexico, the preparation 
of high school teachers is distributed among the four institu- 
tions — the University, the .College of Agriculture, and the two 
normal schools. No one of these institutions is adequately 
equipped to render this service. In a later section of this re- 
port, I shall make suggestions looking toward possible solutions 
of this problem. 

III. THE STATE HIGHER INSTITUTIONS. 
A. The Normal Schools. 

1 visited the normal schools at Las Vegas and Silver City, 
spending a day and a half at the former and a day at the latter. 
In view of the brevity of these visits it will be understood, of 
course, that my remarks regarding the schools and their work 
should be looked upon as impressions rather than as final judg- 
ments. In each school I examined the students' records; in- 
spected the plant ; ^'isited classes ; and conferred with the presi- 
dent and with certain instructors. At Las Vegas I met with the 
board of trustees and discussed problems of normal school ad- 
ministration. At Las Vegas, also, I visited two neighboring 
rural schools for the purpose of gaining an idea of the problem 
of preparing rural school teachers. 

The State Normal University. The origin of the name 
"university" as applied to this institution I did not learn. I 
surmise that it was in imitation of the Illinois State Normal 
University. The latter school was founded in 1852 and as- 
sumed the title in order to take advantage of the Congressional 
act donating a substantial acreage of public land to each state 
carved out of the national domain for a "university." Both in 
Illinois and in New Mexico, of course, the designation is a mis- 
nomer. 

The New Mexico State Normal L^niversity is fairly well lo- 
cated in the sense that Las Vegas is accessible to students from 
the Northeastern part of the state, and apparently as conven- 
iently accessible as is any tOAvn of its size to the North Central 
and Northwestern parts. The townspeople seem to be very well- 
disposed toward the normal school. 

The plant is well located within the town, and, with the 
completion of the new building, would doubtless be adequate 
to the needs of the academic and theory classes. The training 
school, however, is not sufficiently well housed or equipped and 
is far too small to serve as a laboratory for the normal school 
should the latter attempt to supply the teachers that it should 
supply now — much less those that the program set forth above 



22 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

would require from it. At the time of my visit the training 
school enrollment was 190 and the average daily attendance 
163. There are six class-rooms and the aim is to have about 30 
pupils in each room. I was informed by the director of the 
training department that not more than 20 normal school 
students are now given practice teaching in this school during 
the year. The enrollment of training school pupils is adequate 
to this small number of student-teachers. It is clear, however, 
that the school should prepare far more than 20 competent 
teachers a year. If, as we have suggested, the state were to 
prepare all of its elementary school recruits in the two normal 
schools, each of these institutions would have to turn out each 
year 225 graduates. To supply the lowest acceptable minimum 
of practice for each of the students and at the same time not do 
an injustice to the pupils in the training school, there should be 
available for training school purposes at least 1,000 children. 
To meet this need by far the best plan would be to organize all 
of the elementary schools of Las Vegas as a laboratory of the 
normal school. Plans of this sort have been worked out with 
notable success in connection with the state normal schools at 
Dillon, Montana; Gunnison, Colorado; Albion, Idaho; and else- 
where. 

Even if the Normal School at Las Vegas undertakes 
nothing more than it is now doing, more abundant practice fa- 
cilities are necessary. The only students now having the privr 
ileges of actual teaching practice are the second-year students 
of the two-year collegiate curriculum. The first-year students 
and those enrolled in secondary and elementary classes are 
given no opportunity to gain initial skill in teaching under com- 
petent supervision although many of them are permitted to 
teach, even immediately after completing eighth grade work. 

It is needless to say that boys and girls so immature and 
so limited in their educational equipment as are eighth grade 
graduates should not be licensed to teach. As long as this con- 
dition exists, however, it would seem to be incumbent upon the 
normal schools to let them learn a little about the art of teach- 
ing by practicing that art at the normal school under very 
careful supervision. I can see no justice in the contention that 
the training school pupils must not be subjected to such imma- 
ture teaching when these child-teachers are permitted to go 
into isolated rural schools and undertake teaching under condi- 
tions infinitely more difficult and with consequences far more 
disastrous to the pupils who are "taught." 

If this position is granted with reference to the eighth 
grade graduates, its justification is equally clear with reference 
to the students and graduates of the high school department of 
the normal school who are now sent into the rural schools as 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 23 

teachers without any preliminary practical training. Since 
1901, the students graduating from the high school department 
at Las Vegas have aggregated 315 in number, and of these 166, 
or more than one-half, have at once gone as teachers into one- 
room or two-room schools. Out of 42 graduates last June, 23 
are now in the rural school service — and with substantially no 
training of a practical sort. 

It would be thoroughly feasible for the normal school to 
organize a system of participation in class-room teaching that 
would be extremely helpful to these young students ; but such 
a system would require a much larger training school enroll- 
ment than is noAv available. A larger training school enroll- 
ment would also be required if the state should decree that 
teachers should no longer be licensed on the basis of so slender 
an equipment as these high school students and graduates rep- 
resent. In either event, then, the Normal School needs more 
extended practice facilities. 

The enrollment of students on the collegiate level in the 
fall of 1920 was : 

Freshmen 27 

Sophomores 24 

Juniors 2 

Seniors 3 

The graduates from collegiate classes in 1920 numbered 31 ; 
of these 30 are teaching. In 1919, the graduates numbered 6, 
of whom all entered the public school service. It is clear, then, 
that the State Normal University is sending its graduates into 
the public schools in a most commendable proportion. 

The institution confers upon students who have completed 
the first two years of work on the collegiate level the degree of 
Bachelor of Pedagogy, and upon the completion of a third year, 
the degree of Master of Pedagogy. It is hardly necessary to 
say that the practice of offering a Bachelor's degree for any 
work that falls short of the standard four years of resident 
study based upon graduation from a four-year high school, or 
the Master's degree for less than five years, is to be condemned 
in the strongest terms. Such degrees havfe long been discredit- 
ed in the better normal schools. 

This is not to say that normal schools should not be rated 
as "colleges" in so far as they require for admission to colle- 
giate curricula four years of high school preparation; nor does 
it mean that normal schools should not offer degrees upon the 
basis of full four years' residence. Whether the New Mexico 
normal schools should provide four-year curricula leading to 
the Bachelor's degree under present conditions is a problem 
that will be discussed later in this report. 



24 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

The records of the State Normal University, in so far as I 
could determine by a brief examination, were in excellent con- 
dition. Students are not registered for work of collegiate grade 
unless they have collegiate standing, and the high school cre- 
dentials of such students are on file and readily accessible. 

The curricula of the normal schools at both Las Vegas and 
Silver City need thorough-going revision. The elective priv- 
ileges are, I believe, far too elastic for professional institutions 
that aim to prepare recruits for types of service the demands 
of which are in general clearly predictable. The required sub- 
jects are not, in my judgment, the best that could be chosen. 
Well organized relations between subject-matter departments 
and the training school are not in evidence. In neither school 
are there special facilities for the preparation of rural school 
teachers although both schools send large contingents of re- 
cruits into the rural school service. In connection with neither 
school did I find rural training centers or well organized de- 
partments dealing with rural school problems. 

It is my judgment that, irrespective of the adoption or re- 
jection of the program that I have suggested for the extension 
of the period of training, the curricula of the normal schools 
should be subjected to a searching revision. To this end, I 
strongly urge that the faculties of the two schools meet in con- 
ference at Albuquerque or Santa Fe during the first week of 
the next school year and attack this problem. After prelimi- 
nary discussion, committees could be appointed to work during 
the follow^ing year. A second conference could be held at the 
time of the annual meeting of the State Teachers' Association, 
and a third conference at the close of the year when a report 
of recommendations could be adopted for presentation to the 
governing boards of the institutions. The authorities that have 
to do with the licensing of teachers and two representatives 
each of the county and city superintendents should meet with 
the instructors in these conferences, and the report should aim 
to lay down a thorough-going program for the preparation of 
teachers for the public schools of New Mexico. The expenses 
of such conferences should, in my opinion, be borne by the 
State. The investment would not be heavy and it would yield 
returns out of all proportions to the cost — not only returns in 
the shape of a more adequate program, but also returns in the 
form of a greatly enhanced interest of the normal school in- 
structors in their problems. I may say that the general plan 
has been followed with very great success in Massachusetts and 
in "Wisconsin — in the latter state the teachers themselves initi- 
ated the movement last year and bore all of the expenses; in 
the former state the expenses of an annual conference of all 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 25 

normal school instructors are paid by the State Board of 
Education. 

In general, the faculties of the normal schools should be 
charged with larger responsibilities than have as yet been given 
them for determining, under sane regulations, the policies of 
the schools. 

In common with similar institutions throughout the coun- 
try, the normal schools of New Mexico both underpay and over- 
work their instructors. A revision of the curricula should do 
much to correct the latter injustice by eliminating the necessity 
for offering so many separate courses and dealing with so 
many small classes. It is possible, although hardly probable, 
that such a reorganization would permit the work of the insti- 
tutions to be done with a relatively smaller number of instruct- 
ors and thus make possible a higher salary. The "teaching 
load" of the normal school instructor should not exceed sixteen 
class-hours each week. In making this determination, two 
hours of laboratory work, training school supervision, or stated 
conferences (conferences, for example, of supervisors with stu- 
dent-teachers) should be counted as one and one-half class- 
hours ; where classes are sectioned thus permitting the instruct- 
or to repeat the same work in different sections, the same rule 
should be followed in determining the total "load." 

The State Normal School at Silver City. The location of 
this institution has two things to commend it: (1) the climate 
of the high plateau on which Silver City is situated, and (2) 
the progressive character of the community. From the point 
of view of accessibility, the school is very poorly located. It is 
in a cul de sac, indeed, as far as railroad transportation is con- 
cerned, and is furthermore in a remote corner of the State. 

The enrollment in the State Normal School at the time of 
my visit numbered 43 on the collegiate level and 189 on the high 
school level. In view of the isolated situation of Silver City, 
the distribution of its students and pupils as to their homes be- 
comes an important question. Forty of the 43 collegiate stu- 
dents are included in the following summary: 

From Outside the State 1 

From Silver City 6 

From Grant County Outside of Silver City 5 

From Chaves County 7 

From Curry County 2 

From Eddy County 2 

From Lea County - 7 

From Lincoln County 1 

From Luna County 2 

From McKinley County .: 2 



26 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

From Roosevelt County 1 

From San Juan County 2 

From Sierra County 1 

From Union County ~ 1 

Total 40 

The enrollment in high school classes shows the following 
distribution : 

From Outside of the State 21 

From Silver City 64 

From Grant County Outside of Silver City 60 

From Chaves County 1 

From Curry County 4 

From Eddy County 1 

From Dona Ana County 9 

From Lincoln County 3 

From Luna County 5 

From McKinley County 1 

From Hidalgo County 3 

From Otero County - 1 

From Roosevelt County 1 

From Sierra County 7 

From Socorro County 9 

From Taos County - 1 

From Torrance County 1 

From Valencia County 1 

Total 193 

The first of the above tables gives one the impression that 
the collegiate enrollment is fairly well distributed. When I 
inquired into the facts, however, I found that the relatively 
large collegiate enrollment from Chaves and Lea counties was 
frankly attributed to the fact that the president of the Normal 
School had formerly been superintendent of schools at Roswell 
and had personally drawai a number of students from the 
southeastern part of the State. This is, of course, a tribute to 
the president — but it does not prove the advantages or disad- 
vantages of Silver City as an appropriate place in which to 
locate a normal school. 

The high school enrollment is predominantly from Grant 
county; the only other counties contributing significantly to 
the total are those traversed by the two lines of railroad that 
serve the extreme southwestern part of the State. 

In spite of the fact that students attending the normal 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 27 

school from a distance can have their railroad fare refunded, 
it is clear that the enrollment in the school is drawn predomi- 
nantly from the city in which the school is located, and from 
easily accessible points nearby. 

The training school at Silver City, like that at Las Vegas, 
is relatively small, enrolling this year about 150 pupils. The 
training school is fairly well housed in a separate building. 

Of the five State institutions that I visited, the school at 
Silver City has in mqny ways the best plant. The central heat- 
ing plant, the manual training shops, and the gymnasium de- 
serve especially to be commended. 

The Silver City Normal School, like the school at Las 
Vegas, attempts to meet the needs of the rural schools through 
its high school department only. Of the thirty students who 
graduated last year from the collegiate department, three are 
now teaching in high schools, and the remaining twenty-seven 
in town and city elementary schools. The provisions for giv- 
ing practical training to the high school pupils who will go at 
once into the rural school are as unsatisfactory as at Las Vegas. 
As was suggested in connection Avith the latter school, it is my 
belief that, as long as the State permits these immature teach- 
ers to undertake the responsible work of the rural schools, the 
normal schools should give to them the very best training 'that 
they can ; this the normal schools are not doing now. Such 
training would involve the development of a rural school de- 
partment, the organization of rural training centers, and the 
use of the local schools for participation and practice purposes 
by students preparing for the rural service. 

The school at Silver City is well administered. The stu- 
dent records are well-kept and an examination of them indi- 
cates that high school and collegiate students are provided for 
in separate classes. It would add much to the morale of the 
school if a wider distinction should be made between the sec- 
ondary pupils and the students enrolled in standard normal 
school curricula. The former should have a measure of super- 
vision that the latter do not need. Wherever a secondary de- 
partment co-exists with a collegiate department in the same 
institution, it is my belief that the former should be separately 
organized with a separate staff and a separate budget, under 
the administration of a departmental principal. 

The Normal School seems to be particularly careful in pre- 
venting indi\ddual students from attempting programs that are 
too heavy. Those desiring to undertake more than sixteen 
semester hours are required to have an average standing of 85 
in all subjects; each case is passed upon by a faculty commit- 
tee; and there is an understanding that twenty hours will be 
the maximum. 



28 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

As at Las Vegas, the teachers are overloaded. Basing my 
calculations on the standards discussed in connection with the 
school at Las Vegas, I find that eight instructors have sched- 
ules ranging from twenty to twenty-six class hours a week, and 
averaging twenty-three hours. Schedules of this sort are far 
too heavy for the very important work that the preparation of 
teachers involves. 

The Normal School at Silver City offers a number of com- 
mercial courses. In so far as these are for the purpose of pre- 
paring teachers of commercial subjects in the high schools, their 
justification in a teachers' professional school is obvious. I find 
from the directory of teachers issued by the State Department 
of Public Instruction that the number of commercial teachers 
in the high schools of New Mexico is 24, outside of the State in- 
stitutions. Perhaps three or four are needed on the average 
each year. 

I am somewhat doubtful . that all or even a large propor- 
tion of the students enrolled in commercial courses at Silver 
City are planning to teach these subjects in the high schools. 
The folloMdng student program is fairly typical of the collegiate 
students who take this Avork : 

Psychology _ 5 hours 

U. S. History 2 hours 

Typewriting (laboratory practice) 10 hours 

Textiles and Clothing (laboratorj^) 5 hours 

English 2 hours 

Physical Training 2 hours 

This student is in the second year of the standard two- 
year curriculum (collegiate level). She is apparently prepar- 
ing to teach in a graded elementary school. To fit herself for 
this work she carried during the term in question 171/2 semes- 
ter-hours of work (exclusive of physical training) of which 
nearly one-half were devoted to subjects that had no discov- 
erable relation either to strictly professional preparation or to 
the broader culture that all teachers need. In response to an 
inquiry as to the justification of ten hours of typewriting in a 
program that is in itself all too brief to meet the needs of any 
teacher, I was told that she wished to learn typewriting in order 
to be able to earn money during the summer vacations. The 
motive is, of course, a sad commentary on the rewards of a pro- 
fession that is recognized as basic beyond all others to social 
welfare and progress; but I could not help asking Avhy studies 
were not required that would enable this prospective teacher to 
earn better even the small wage that she will receive for her 
teaching. The incident may seem to be trivial, but it reflects 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 29 

all too clearly the slight respect in which both the public in 
general and students who seek to enter the service of the pub- 
lic schools view the work Avhich that service represents. 

The Spanish-American Normal School at El Rito. I did not 

visit this school. I took occasion, however, to discuss its or- 
ganization and its problem with several persons who, I had 
every reason to believe, were disinterested judges, I was in- 
formed that the school is not essentially different from the bet- 
ter class of New Mexico rural schools and that its contribution 
to the supply of trained teachers for the State is negligible. It 
is, in my judgment, a questionable policy to attempt to segre- 
gate the preparation of teachers for the Spanish-American dis- 
tricts from the preparation of teachers for the other parts of 
the State. The problem of the Spanish-American rural school 
is a real problem that cannot be neglected. The conservation 
of the valuable elements in the Spanish-American traditions 
and culture and the incorporation of these elements into the 
spirit and ideals of the commonwealth is likewise important. 
But both of these problems, I am confident, can be best solved 
by having in the teacher training institutions strong depart- 
ments devoted to the preparation of competent and sympa- 
thetic teachers for these schools, and by having in these insti- 
tutions and also in the University of New Mexico an adequate 
representation of the Spanish- American elements and interests. 
Fusion and integration should be the motto, not separation and 
segregation. 

B. THE STATE UNIVERSITY. 

I spent at Albuquerque only about twenty-four hours — 
far too_ brief a time to do more than gain a bird's eye view of 
the University and its environment. 

The city has been well selected as the seat of the State 
University. Not only is it the largest city in the State, but it 
is also central in its location and, of all towns in the State, ap- 
parently the most easily accessible from all sections. The people 
of the community have demonstrated their interest in the Uni- 
versity in many ways — most recently by providing funds for 
a building to house the department of home economics. 

The buildings of the University are well located, and con- 
stitute on the whole a fitting nucleus for later development. 

The University enrolled at the time of my visit 222 stu- 
dents, all of collegiate grade. The distribution among the sev- 
eral classes was as follows : 



30 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

Freshmen 83 

Sophomores 61 

Juniors 30 

Seniors 19 

Graduates 1 

Special Students 28 

Slightly more than one-half of all of the students come 
from Bernalillo County. The distribution as to counties is 
shown by the following table: 

Bernalillo 128 

Chaves 10 

Colfax 9 

Curry _ 2 

De Baca 3 

Dona Ana 1 

Eddy 6 

Grant 1 

Guadalupe 1 

Lincoln ' 1 

Luna : 2 

McKinley 5 

Mora 1 

Otero 2 

Quay 3 

Rio Arriba 1 

Roosevelt 5 

Santa Fe 3 

San Juan 3 

San Miguel _ 3 

Union 1 

Outside the State 30 

Total 222 

The University, then, like the Normal School at Silver 
City, is predominantly a local institution, although it is note- 
worthy that distant counties which have good high school fa- 
cilities send fairly large contingents of students to the institu- 
tion. This is more clearly shown in the distribution of last 
year's students; of the total number, Chaves county contri- 
buted 20, Colfax county 17, Curry 13, and Eddy 12. 

Approximately thirteen per cent of this year's enrollment 
is from outside the State. This proportion would probably be 
larger if one included the students who have assumed resi- 
dence in New Mexico merely for the purpose of escaping the 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 31 

non-resident tuition fee. Last year, twenty per cent of the en- 
tire registration represented out-of-state residence. It is rea- 
sonable to assume that the attractiveness of the climate in New 
Mexico will always bring to the State institutions rather more 
than their fare share of out-of-state students. At the Univer- 
sity, the tuition for such students is now $24.00 for the year; 
the fee for residents is $10.00. In justice to the latter and in 
justice to the taxpayers of the State, I believe that the non- 
resident tuition fee should be increased for all institutions. 
Even if it were as much as $100 a year the proceeds on the 
basis of the present non-resident enrollment would be far below 
the proportion of the per capita cost of instruction that is 
borne by taxation within the State. 

The present administration of the University of New Mexi- 
co is sanely aggressive in its efforts to develop the institution. 
Preparatory work has been abandoned — and quite properly, I 
think, for this type of institution. The work of the business 
and registration offices seems to be exceptionally well organ- 
ized. To the efforts of the administration, also, is due in large 
measure the successful outcome of the campaign for the erec- 
tion of the home economics building. 

Very small classes in institutions of collegiate grade are 
frequently a source of criticism when the cost of maintaining 
such institutions is under scrutiny. It is questionable how far 
such criticism is justified ; it is clear however that a large pro- 
portion of small classes means that a relatively large amount 
of work is being offered for which the demand is slight. Out 
of a total of 96 courses reporting at the time of our visit to the 
University of New Mexico, 30 (or 31.2%) had enrollments of 
few^er than five students each. The distribution was as follows : 

3 courses enrolled 1 student each 
12 courses enrolled 2 students each 

7 courses enrolled 3 students each 

8 courses enrolled 4 students each 

The smallest enrollments were in the department of elec- 
trical engineering and the department of music ; in both de- 
partments no class enrolled more than four students. In ge- 
ology, three out of five classes had fewer than five students; 
in civil engineering, three out of six ; in biology and in home 
economics, tw^o out of five ; in education, one out of three ; and 
in Greek and Latin, two out of four. In the departments of 
English, philosophy and psychology, economics, physics, and 
the Romance languages there were no classes with fcAver than 
five registrations. 

The staff of the University of New Mexico is beginning to- 



32 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

assume the characteristics of a true university faculty, al- 
though much needs still to be accomplished here. The salary 
schedule is quite inadequate ; the average for full professors is 
nearly $800 below the average for full professors in the institu- 
tions reported in a recent bulletin of the Federal Bureau of Ed- 
ucation. It is significantly below the average in the state uni- 
versities of the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast states. The 
institution will do Avell, I believe, to limit the expansion of de- 
partments until it is in a position to pay a more nearly ade- 
quate wage to the teachers that it already employs. 

Of the eighteen living graduates of the class of 1920, the 
occupational distribution is as follows: 

Teaching and other educational work 9 

Chemist 1 

Electrical engineer 1 

Accountants 2 

liraduate students 2 

Newspaper work 1 

At home „ 2 

The chief vocational function of the University at the pres- 
ent time, then, seems to be preparation of teachers. It should 
be noted, however, that, of the nine now engaged in educational 
work, only five are serving in Ncav Mexico. The University at 
the present time is apparently not providing as many teachers 
for the high schools as are the two normal schools and the Col- 
lege of Agriculture. It is my opinion that the University does 
not have proper facilities for the preparation of high school 
teachers at the present time. Whether it should develop such 
facilities is a question that I shall touch upon later. 

C. THE STATE SCHOOL OF MINES. 

A day was spent at the State School of Mines. 

The location of this institution has to commend it the prox- 
imity of instructive geological formations and some mining 
works, now abandoned, that serve some of the purposes of field 
study. In so far as inspection of, and participation in, actual 
mining operations by the students are concerned, the location 
of the school seems to have little to commend it. 

The school is too far from town to be readily convenient. 
The buildings are cheaply constructed and impress one as not 
well kept up. 

The registration at the time of our visit was 97. Of these 
21 were students assigned to the institution by the Federal 
Board for Vocational Education. Nine students are sub-colle- 
giate in status ; of these eight are Federal board students. 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 33 

The distribution among the four collegiate classes was as 
f olloAvs : 

Freshmen .41 

Sophomore 38 

Junior 5 

Senior 2 

The graduating classes for the past four years have been 
very small because of the war. Of the five graduates in 1919 
and 1920, four are engaged in mining or closely related pur- 
suits ; one is a graduate student at the University of Utah. None 
is practicing his profession in New Mexico. 

The students are non-resident in a measure unapproaehed, 
I believe by any other state-supported institution in the coun- 
try. Twenty-six students claim to be residents of New Mexico, 
but seven of these have come directly from other states and 
assume New Mexico residence presumably for the purpose of 
escaping the tuition fees. This leaves nineteen students bona 
fide residents of the state, as against 68 from outside of the 
state out of a total of 85. Of the nine sub-collegiate students, 
six are from outside the state. Of two special students, one is 
from New Mexico. 

A study of the student schedules and the teaching sched- 
ules of this school reveals in both cases overloaded programs. 
Students are permitted to carry from 25 to 32 hours of work 
each week (counting 2 laboratory hours as 1 class hour) ; while 
the average "load" of six collegiate instructors is 24 hours each 
week (counting II/2 laboratory hours as 1 class hour). 

It is clear that the School of Mines is not serving the state 
in measure that the vital importance of its field to the state's 
prosperity and progress demands. It is enrolling only a negli- 
gible proportion of New Mexico students ; none of its gradu- 
ates of the past two years is developing New^ Mexico mines; 
none of its professors, so far as I could learn, is officially en- 
gaged in the solution of the special problems involved in the 
state's mining interests. 

However one may view the other state institutions, there 
can be little question that the work represented by the State 
School of Mines should be radically reorganized. 

D. THE NEW MEXICO COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND 
MECHANIC ARTS. 

I spent one day at the College of Agriculture and the Me- 
chanic Arts. The morning was given over in large part to a 
conference with the secretary and board of trustees in which 
the principal topic of discussion was the purpose of my visit ; 



34 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

hence I was unable to give to the actual study of the College so 
much time as I had hoped that I might give. The president of 
the College was out of town, but Dean J. H. Vaughn showed 
me every possible courtesy. 

The College seemed to me to be fairly well located for its 
purposes as a school of agricultural instruction and investiga- 
tion. While the region roundabout is not typical of all parts 
of the state, it may be truthfully said that no single locality in 
so extensive and so widely diversified an area as that compris- 
ing New Mexico could possibly claim that distinction; and it 
should be said as well that the region of which Las Cruces and 
its environment are typical is a portion of the state that is very 
important agriculturally. 

Las Cruces, too, is centrally located as respects the south 
ern half of the state. It can be reached without much difficulty 
from points north as far at least as Albuquerque; from the 
southwestern counties either through Rincon or through El 
Paso ; and from the southeastern counties through El Paso. 

The buildings of the school do not impress one as so well 
constructed or so M^ell kept up as are the buildings at Las 
Vegas, Albuquerque and Silver City; but for the college farm, 
orchards, and gardens I should have nothing but the highest 
praise. 

At the time of my visit the College enrolled 326 students, 
of whom 103 were of collegiate grade, 77 were students as- 
signed by the Federal Board for Vocational Education and 
were largely of secondary grade, and the remainder were en- 
rolled in preparatory or secondary vocational courses. 

The distribution of the collegiate students was as follows : 

Graduate 1 

Seniors 15 

Juniors 13 

Sophomores ' 24 

Freshmen 39 

Special Students 21 years old in collegiate courses 11 

Total 103 

Of the secondary students, 100 Avere in college prepara- 
tory courses, 44 in commercial courses, 28 in automobile me- 
chanics courses, and 46 in agricultural courses of secondary 
grade. 

The median age of the entire student body is 20.22 years; 
of the students in auto mechanics, 21.51 years ; and of the stu- 
dents in the agricultural short courses, 25.11 years. 

The student records seemed to be in good shape. Fifteen 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 35 

high school units are required for entrance to collegiate 
classes (except for certain special students who are at least 
twenty-one years old) ; no advanced collegiate standing is given 
for secondary work beyond 15 units. 

The students' programs are well administered. The av- 
erage college student carries 18 semester-hours of work. The 
minimum is 15 hours, and the maximum 24. Every program 
beyond 18 hours must have the approval of the executive com- 
mittee. 

The graduates from collegiate classes in June, 1920 are en- 
gaged this year in the following occupations : 

Teaching _ 7 

In Smith-Hughes work 1 

In a college (biology) 1 

In high schools 5 

Engineering 7 

Agricultural agent 1 

Mercantile business 1 

Total 16 

The collegiate graduates for 1919 are distributed as follows : 

Agriculture 2 

Engineering 1 

Teaching 3 

Housework 3 

Secretarial work 1 

Total 10 

Dean Vaughn has furnished me with a table showing the 
distribution of the students enrolled in the College in 1919-20 
as to their homes : 
Collegiate — 

From New Mexico, outside of Las Cruces and Mesilla 

Park 83 

From outside of New Mexico 35 

From Las Cruces and Mesilla Park 21 

Post-graduate, all from outside of New Mexico 4 

Preparatory — 

From New Mexico, outside of Las Cruces and Mesilla 

Park 123 

From outside of New Mexico 20 

From Las Cruces and Mesilla Park 21 



36 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

Short Courses. 
In Agriculture — 

From New Mexico, outside of Las Cruces and Mesilla 

Park 30 

From outside of New Mexico 12 

From Las Cruces and Mesilla Park 3 

In Automobile Mechanics — 

From New Mexico, outside of Las Cruces and Mesilla 

Park ^4 

From outside of New Mexico 28 

From Las Cruces and Mesilla Park 7 

In Commerce — 

From New Mexico, outside of Las Cruces and Mesilla 

Park 46 

From outside of New Mexico 6 

From Las Cruces and Mesilla Park 16 

Total enrollment 509 

Note. — Two short courses are given in automobile me- 
chanics and two in commerce ; one course, in each case, requir- 
ing one year for completion ; the other, two years. Students in 
the short course in agriculture have the privilege of pursuing 
the course three or four years, if they desire to do so. 

Eleven of the commercial students were high school 
graduates. 

It will be noted that a goodly proportion of the students 
are from outside of New Mexico, and the question of an in- 
creased tuition fee for such students might well be raised here 
as it was in the discussion of the University of New IMexico. 

The generous provision of short courses in agriculture and 
engineering is to my mind most commendable. I am, however, 
somewhat in doubt as to the strict legitimacy of utilizing Mor- 
I'ill funds for students in commercial courses. 

The instructors at Las Cruces have, on the whole, somewhat 
more reasonable teaching programs than the instructors in the 
two normal schools and the School of Mines ; but the average is 
still higher than the standard accrediting agencies recommend. 
Some teachers, too, are seriously over-burdened at certain sea- 
sons of the year. One instructor, for example, carries a 24- 
liour program in the second term; another, 25 hours in the 
second t'^rm and 22 in the first term ; and there is one case in 
which an instructor is supposed to carry 30 hours of work (12 
hours' leaching and 36 hours' laboratory). 

An inspection of the class registration data for 1919-20 
shows a large number of courses with very small enrollment. 
Out of 349 courses offered in 1919-20. 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 37 

21 courses enrolled 1 student each 

17 courses enrolled 2 students each 
15 courses enrolled 3 students each 

18 courses enrolled 4 students each 

In all, then, seventy-one courses (20.3%) had each an en- 
rollment of fewer than five students. Relatively small regis- 
trations were particularly characteristic of the collegiate 
courses in engineering. 

E. THE NEW MEXICO MILITARY INSTITUTE. 

I did not visit this institution. From an examination of its 
catalogue and from conferences with those who know this in- 
stitution, I am convinced that it is a military school of the best 
type and of the highest rating, offering chiefly college-prepara- 
tory courses with some effort toward the development of junior 
college work. 

It is my understanding that the Military Institute has a 
special land-grant which could not be diverted to other pur- 
poses, and that it is already largely self-supporting through the 
tuition fees of students from without the state. If the revenues 
from both these sources could make it entirely self-supporting, 
the problem would be materially simplified. In the sections 
that follow, I shall assume that the tax burden represented by 
the maintenance of this institution will either be eliminated or 
reduced to a negligible minimum. 

IV. POSSIBILITIES OF REORGANIZATION LOOKING 

TOWARD ECONOMY AND INCREASED 

EFFICIENCY. 

It is clear even to the casual observer that New Mexico is 
attempting to operate a larger number of separate tax-sup- 
ported higher institutions than the needs of the state warrant, 
and a larger number of such institutions than the taxpayers of 
the state are now either willing or able to provide for in a 
manner that would be consistent with the importance of the 
service that the various institutions should render. I believe 
that the truth and justice of the following statements cannot 
be reasonably controverted. 

1. The Spanish-American Normal School at El Rito should 
no longer be a burden either upon the taxable wealth of the 
state or upon any revenues derived from Federal land grants. 

2. The maintenance of the Military Institute should not 
be a charge upon the taxable wealth of the state. 

3. The relatively small number of students of collegiate 
grade in the several institutions is proof conclusive that the 



38 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

state should not attempt to support five separate degree-grant- 
ing institutions. At the time of my visits the aggregate colle- 
giate enrollment in the five institutions was 510 ; of these nearly 
200 were from outside the state, leaving approximately 300 as 
the total of New Mexico students on the collegiate level. 

4. The service that the School of Mines is rendering to 
the state as measured both by the number of New Mexico stu- 
dents enrolled in its courses and by the proportion of its gradu- 
ates who are developing the mineral resources of the state does 
not seem to justify the expenditures that its maintenance noAV 
involves. To continue the school as a separate organization 
would seem to be most unwise. At the same time the large pos- 
sibilities inherent in the minei-al wealth of New Mexico would 
speak strongly against any proposal to abandon mining educa- 
tion as an important phase of the state's educational efforts. 

5. The large proportion of very small classes in the col- 
legiate engineering courses of the New Mexico College of Ag- 
riculture and Mechanic Arts raises at once the question whether 
the work in engineering endowed by the Federal government 
under the Morrill and related acts could not more profitably 
be incorporated with the engineering courses now offered at 
the University of New Mexico which is located much more fav- 
orably for the development of such work. 

6. The State Normal School at Silver City is seriously 
handicapped by its location in rendering the service that it 
should to the State. 

7. The salary schedules in all of the state institutions are 
far too low to secure and retain men and women of the ability 
demanded in the important work which the institutions are 
called upon to do. 

8. The teaching programs in all of the institutions with 
the possible exception of the University are far heavier than is 
permitted by the standards now generally agreed upon by au- 
thorities in higher education. 

9. While the normal schools at Las Vegas and Silver City 
are, in the main, concentrating their energies Avith commend- 
able earnestness upon the problem of preparing teachers for 
the public schools, this most important of all possible functions 
of the state's higher institutions is not being discharged with 
the measure of success that the state should demand. This is 
due in part to tlie limited resources of the schools, and these 
limited resources are in part due to the rival claims of other 
institutions. 

10. The higher institutions of New Mexico are wasteful 
in part because they lack a unified administration. This lack 
permits local interests to thwart, often quite innocently, the 
broader interests of the state as a whole ; it encourages needless 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 39 

duplications; it stimulates an unhealthy rivalry; it stands 
squarely in the path of both economy and efficiency. This is not 
to say that the local communities in which the separate institu- 
tions are located either willfully or maliciously betray the 
state's interests; nor is it to minimize the fine loyalty which 
most if not all of the local communities have shown to the 
schools located in their midst ; it is simply to recognize a basic 
fact of human nature — namely, the tendency of any community 
to put forth every effort to bring to itself as large a volume of 
business as it can. To expect from any community a thoroughly 
detached and a dispassionate consideration of the state's wider 
interests, especially Avhen such interests may conflict with local 
interests, is to expect the impossible. 

I am aware that all of the institutions under considera- 
tion have been located by constitutional provisions, and that 
any marked efforts toward reorganization must be based upon 
the possibility of securing certain amendments to the basic law. 
I shall assume in the following discussion that the people of 
New Mexico as a whole wish above all else to provide for the 
children of the state educational opportunities as generous and 
as efficient as their means will permit, and that, if they are 
clearly convinced of the need of constitutional amendments as a 
means to this all-important end, such amendments will be forth- 
coming. 

I may also be permitted at this point to say that I am view- 
ing the educational problem of New Mexico objectively. I have 
no personal interest in any locality, in any section, in any in- 
stitution or group of institutions within the state. I have no 
personal obligations to discharge to any individual or group of 
indi\aduals. I have assumed that the Special Revenue Com- 
mission which employed my services wished my unbiased judg- 
ment, whether or not it agreed with its judgment. Under no 
other conditions, of course, are my services in the market. In 
all fairness, however, I should add that, while I have no per- 
sonal interest or obligations. I do have a pronounced profes- 
sional interest in the problem. If my judgment is to be dis- 
counted in any way, it should be on the basis of my firm con- 
viction that the most fundamental of all educational problems 
in any state is the provision of competent teachers for the low- 
er schools. It is here that any suggestions that I make are most 
likely to diverge from those of other persons judging the situa- 
tion from the outside. 

If it be agreed that state support for the El Rito and Ros- 
well institutions should be discontinued, the next question has 
to do with the possibility of consolidating all or some of the 
five remaining schools. 

The clearest case is that of the School of Mines. As has 



40 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

been said, the importance of New Mexico's mining interests 
implies an important place in the state's system of higher edu- 
cation for the work that this school represents. Substantial 
economies, however, could be effected by transferring the pro- 
fessional courses now offered at Socorro either to the Univers- 
ity at Albuquerque or to the State College at Las Cruces. First, 
such a transfer would save a considerable expense on the side 
of upkeep of plant and administrative overhead charges; sec- 
ondly, the duplication of general courses in mathematics and 
the physical sciences could be avoided; thirdly, duplication in 
certain professional courses, notably in civil engineering, could 
be done aAvay with, at least in part. The saving to the state 
could easily amount to $25,000 a year, probably more. Itis 
possible that neither Las Cruces nor Albuquerque offers quite 
so good a location for a mining school as does Socorro. I am 
not competent to speak with any measure of authority on this 
matter, but it is my impression that substantial work in mining 
engineering could be done at Albuquerque and possibly at Las 
Cruces almost if not quite as well as at Socorro. I am of the 
opinion that the plant at Socorro could be abandoned with a 
minimum of disadvantage. 

The possibilities of combining the normal schools now lo- 
cated at Las Vegas and Silver City are less convincing unless a 
single strong teachers' college were to be located at Albuquer- 
que which is the only city in the state large enough to supply 
training school facilities for the recruits which the public 
school will need if the certification of teachers is placed upon 
an adequate institutional basis. If such a combination were 
impracticable, there would still remain the possibility of mov- 
ing the Silver City school to a point more readily accessible. 
Perhaps the plant at Silver City could be used for another 
state institution in connection with which the question of ac- 
cessibility is not so significant as it is in the location of a teach- 
er training institution. 

The economies that would be effected in the consolidation 
of the normal schools merit consideration at this point. A cer- 
tain amount could be saved in the upkeep of the plant, although 
this amount would be relatively smaller than in the transfer of 
the School of Mines to Albuquerque or Las Cruces, for the num- 
ber of students to be provided for is larger in teacher training 
courses than in mining courses. Administrative overhead 
Avould be substantially reduced. The saving from eliminating 
duplications would be worth considering. A teachers' college, 
wherever located, should have its OAvn staff, but there are pos- 
sibilities of giving certain courses to groups representing dif- 
ferent vocational aims and thus effecting appreciable 
economies. 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 41 

The transfer of the engineering eourses from Las Cruees 
to Albuquerque has already been suggested. This would be a 
step in the direction of efficiency as well as economy, for Albu- 
querque is more centrally located and much more clearly repre- 
sentative of industrial enterprises than is Las Cruees. The 
saving here would come primarily in eliminating duplications, 
it should go without saying that, if this transfer is made, the 
School of Mines should also be incorporated in the University. 
Probably the best plan would be to develop a College of Engi- 
neering with special departments of civil, mining, chemical, 
electrical, and mechanical engineering. 

One further possibility remains : namely, the incorporation 
of the College of Agriculture ^^'ith the University at Albuquer- 
que. Of all the possibilities, this presents the most serious dif- 
ficulties as well as some that are not so serious as they may 
appear at first glance. Of the latter, there is one that should 
be rather briefly referred to. I was told by certain persons in 
New Mexico that the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 
was a national and not a state institution, and consequently 
that it could not be removed without national consent. This, 
of course, is not true. The land grants for the colleges of 
agriculture and the mechanic arts were grants to the states and 
not to institutions within the states. The same is true of the 
continuing money grants under the Nelson, Adams, and Smith- 
Lever acts. It is my opinion that the state can legitimately 
remove its College of Agriculture from its present location to 
any place within the state that it may choose, and divert to the 
college in its new location the Federal funds that are now 
allotted to the institution in its present location. The College 
of Agriculture is a federally-aided institution; it is in no es- 
sential respect even a federally-supervised, far less a feder- 
ally-controlled institution. 

The most important difficulty in the way of incorporating 
the College of Agriculture with the University at Albuquerque 
lies in the disadvantage of giving up the farms, gardens, and 
orchards that have been developed at a large expenditure of 
time and money at Las Cruees, and the duplication of which 
anywhere else would be both expensive and time-consuming. 
The present site of the University at Albuquerque is not well 
adapted naturally to the location of a College of Agriculture. 
There is an abundance of unoccupied land directly contiguous 
to the campus, but this land is now unwatered. To water it 
from wells would be expensive but it might be practicable. 
There is also a possibility of diverting a mountain stream for 
irrigating purposes. It is hardly necessary to say that these 
possibilities should be thoroughly canvassed before any definite 
policy is proposed. 



42 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

If the College of Agriculture were to be removed to Albu- 
querque, it would still be necessary, I believe, to retain the 
college farm at Las Cruces as an experiment station. It is my 
understanding that the station now is the only one in the 
country that is undertaking investigations in this special type 
of environment. 

The savings that might be effected by incorporating the 
College of Agriculture with the University in connection with 
upkeep, overhead, and economy of instruction are probably 
larger than any that the other possibilities discussed would in- 
volve. They would be offset in part, of course, and perhaps 
entirely by the interest on the permanent investment involved 
in the development of a college farm and the erection of new 
])uildings at the University. Without a careful inventory and 
tabulation which I have not had time to make it is impossible 
for me to do more than very roughly to estimate either the 
savings or the added costs. The plant at Las Cruces was val- 
ued in 1917 at $380,640.67. Assuming that the provision of an 
equally good plant at Albuquerque Avould cost at least as much, 
we have at once an investment of $380,000 to consider. Bonds 
in this amount would involve an interest charge of nearly 
$23,000 annually. This does not include the provision of a 
sinking fund that will eventually liquidate the indebtedness. 
Assuming that the bonds would be retired in twenty years, 
the total annual expense to the State during this period would 
be $42,000. At this annual cost the State would have within 
two decades its new institution developed and paid for. Would 
the consolidation effect a sufficient saving to make it a good 
"business proposition" irrespective of any possible educational 
benefits derived? In 1917, the College of Agriculture cost the 
taxpayers of the State $61,243.23 (New Mexico Tax Review, 
January, 1917, p. 5). To save even one-third of this through 
consolidation without letting the work deteriorate would seem 
to be a very dubious possibility. Even if we left the sinking 
fund out of account, I have serious doubts as to the actual 
money-economy of the proposal in question. 

There are, hoAvever, factors which the above rough calcula- 
tion does not sufficiently consider. It may be that, if an ex- 
periment station were retained at Las Cruces, the investment 
in a new plant at Albuquerque Avould not need to be so heavy. 
In fact, it is conceivable that farms and farmbuildings that 
would be sufficient for instriictional purposes could be pro- 
vided at a much lower cost than would be the case were ex- 
tensive experiments to be provided for. On the other hand, 
if the experiment station were retained at Las Cruces, there 
would be a certain measure of duplication of staff at the col- 
lege and the station, and there would be in addition an educa- 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 43 

tional disadvantage in not having the instruction linked very 
closely as it now is with the experimental investigations. 

Another factor, too, needs consideration. It is possible 
that the citizens of Albuquerque might be Avilling to furnish 
funds that would greatly lessen the investment that the State 
would otherwise need to make in a duplication of the agricul- 
tural college plant. I am frank to say that an arrangement of 
this sort impresses me unfavorably, for if a community "buys" 
an interest in a state institution, it is likely to remember the 
fact whenever the policies of the institution happen not to meet 
local approval. The arrangement is commonly made in the 
location and re-location of state institutions throughout the 
country, however, and the objection may not be so serious as 
I have assumed. 

Passing from the question of money-economy to that of 
educational economy, I believe that the case for consolidation 
is much more convincing. Albuquerque is more centrally lo- 
cated than Las Cruces, and its railroad connections are far 
better. It is the center of an agricultural district that seems 
to be somewhat more closely typical of most of the State's 
agriculture than is Las Cruces, although as I have pointed out, 
the region about Las Cruces represents certain types of agri- 
cultural development that are very important and that are not 
nearly so well reflected in the country around Albuquerque. 

A question of large importance with reference to the 
educational effects of consolidation is this : Will the other de- 
partments of the University tend in any way to overshadow or 
relegate to a subordinate position the work of an agricultural 
college? To this question, I belive, a strong negative answer 
can safely be made. When the agricultural colleges were in 
their infancy, it is true, the separate institutions made more 
progress and enrolled more students in strictly agricultural 
courses than did the institutions connected with universities. 
This was clearly the case in Michigan, where the college was 
(and is) a separate institution, as contrasted with Wisconsin 
where the college was from the outset a part of the State Uni- 
versity ; it was similarly true of Iowa as compared with Illinois, 
and of Kansas as compared \Aath Nebraska. During the past 
thirty years, however, this tendency of the other departments 
of a University to overshadow the agricultural college has been 
fully counteracted and in some cases quite reversed. In Illinois, 
Wisconsin, and Nebi-aska today, the colleges of agriculture are 
among the most largely attended colleges of the University, and 
the colleges of agriculture in these institutions do not in any 
way suffer by comparison with the still separate institutions of 
]\Iichigan, Iowa, and Kansas. Under present conditions, indeed, 
1 believe that the case for, university colleges of. agriculture is 



44 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

much stronger than is that for separate colleges. The assemb- 
iing of students Avith different vocational aims in the same uni- 
vcTsity center is an advantage both to the student and to the 
state. Apart from all economies in administration, upkeep, and 
the elimination of duplications, the educational advantages are, 
I believe, incontestably on the side of concentration. The most 
significant danger lies in the possible swamping of the profes- 
sional spirit of the several colleges constituting the University 
by the more pervasive spirit of the institution as a whole. With 
separate faculties and in some measure separate buildings, how- 
ever, the integrity of each component technical or professional 
college can be conserved and the same time a too narrow pro- 
fessionalism will be precluded. 

Another question of long standing now presents itself. In 
a large state is it not better to have two or three higher insti- 
tutions in different locations than a single central institution? 
Those who answer this question in the affirmative lay large em- 
phasis upon the fact that, throughout the country, the colleges 
almost Avithout exception draAV a majority of their students 
from within a radius of one hundred miles. They also point to 
the well-established fact that the opening of a new institution 
very seldom causes a decline in the enrollment of existing in- 
stitutions. A third argument is the danger of excessively large 
numbers of students in single institutions and the consequent 
lack of personal oversight and individual attention. The claim 
that the state's funds should be distributed for the pecuniary 
benefit of as many communities as possible is obviously spe- 
cious although it is openly defended by some. 

Those who favor centralization commonly urge that a state 
that distributes its available funds and its energies among sev- 
eral institutions is unable to provide in any one of these insti- 
tutions educational opportunities as good as would be those 
that could be provided in a single centralized institution. The 
advantages of a commingling of students of different vocational 
interests is another argument in favor of the central institu- 
tion. Economy in administration and upkeep and the greater 
ease of unifying all of the interests involved are also put for- 
ward in defense of the centralized policy. 

It is my opinion that this question can be answered only 
in the light of conditions within each state. If Ncav Mexico 
had a population of a million or more people I should not hesi- 
tate to say that it should have more than one state institution 
of collegiate grade. Even under present conditions, it is pos- 
sible that it should have more than one. I do not believe that 
it should have five as it now has ; nor do I believe that it should 
support even Uvo or three unless it is Avilling to put into them at 
least as much money as it is noAV expending on five. 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 45 

As I view the situation, there are three possible courses of 
action, any one of which will do something to make the higher 
institutions yield a larger return upon the present investment 
than they yield today. I shall state as objectively as lean the 
advantages and disadvantages of each of these possibilities : 

1. The consolidation of all of the higher institutions at Al- 
buquerq'ue under the general designation, The University of 
New Mexico. 

This would mean the disposal of the plants at Las Vegas 
and Silver City, or it might be, the use of these plants for other 
slate institutions. It would mean either the abandonment of 
the plant at Las Cruces or the use of this plant as aa experi- 
ment station or (in addition to the experiment station) the use 
of the buildings for a state secondary school of agriculture and 
mechanic arts under the Federal subsidies provided by the 
Smith-Hughes act. It would mean the abandonment of the plant 
at Socorro. 

At Albuquerque, it would mean the further development 
of the following colleges : 

(a) The liberal arts college, now located there. 

(b) A central State Teachers' College, to take the place 
of the present normal schools and to do in addition the work 
of preparing teachers now undertaken with inadequate equip- 
ment by the liberal arts college of the University and the Col- 
lege of Agriculture. This teachers' college should offer at the 
outset well-organized curricula on the high school level for the 
preparation of rural school teachers, with the understanding 
that these low-grade curricula are to be replaced within a stat- 
ed number of years by curricula for the same purpose on the 
collegiate levef. It should also offer two-year curricula on the 
collegiate level for the preparation of elementary school teach- 
ers with the understanding that these are to be expanded into 
three-year and four-year programs. It should offer four-year 
collegiate curricula for the preparation of high school teachers 
and for the preparation of special teachers and supervisors of 
music, household arts, agriculture, commercial subjects, and in- 
dustrial arts. It should plan later to provide graduate courses 
for school administrators and supervisors. It should continue 
the good work that has for years been accomplished by the 
normal schools through their summer sessions. In no case 
should a teachers' college be located at Albuquerque or else- 
where unless as many of the public schools of the city as are 
necessary can be used under reasonable regulations for train- 
ing-school purposes and unless at least four rural schools within 
fifteen miles can be secured as rural training centers. 

(c) A State College of Agriculture. This college should 
offer four-year curricula of collegiate grade in general agri- 



46 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

culture, in household arts, in horticulture, in animal husbandry. 
It should co-operate Avith the College of Engineering in offer- 
ing a curriculum for irrigation engineers, and with the Teach- 
ers' College in the courses for the preparation of rural school 
teachers and of teachers of household arts and agriculture in 
the high schools. It should continue the Avork now offered at 
Las Cruces in secondary agriculture, household arts, and farm 
mechanics, at least until these branches are adequately pro- 
vided for in local high schools under the provisions of the 
Smith-Hughes act. 

(d) A State College of Engineering. This should com- 
prise collegiate departments of civil engineering, mining en- 
gineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, and 
mechanical engineering. The College of Engineering should co- 
operate with the College of Agriculture in offering the curri- 
culum for irrigation engineers and with the Teachers 'College in 
the courses for teachers of industrial arts in high schools. It is 
possible that it should also conduct secondary courses similar 
to those in automobile mechanics now offered at Las Cruces 
until this work has gained a permanent foothold in the local 
high schools. 

(e) A State College of Commerce. This should offer one- 
year, two-year, and four-year curricula of collegiate grade in 
general business organization, administration, and accountancy. 
The College of Commerce should also co-operate with the 
Teachers' College in the preparation of high school teachers of 
commercial subjects. 

(f ) Until the high schools of the state are more fully de- 
veloped, it would be necessary I believe to have at the Uni- 
versity a State Preparatory School limited, if possible, to pupils 
from districts that do not as yet provide high school facilities. 
This preparatory school should especially aim to "feed" the 
State Teachers' College and the College of Agriculture. 

Outside of the necessary outlay for new buildings, the or- 
ganization that I have suggested could, I am sure, be financed 
at the outset at a total expense substantially below that now 
provided annually for the seven existing schools. All of the 
land-grant and Federal funds now accruing to the several in- 
stitutions would accrue to the central institution with the ex- 
ception of- the Federal subsidies for the experiment station in 
the event that this were left at Las Cruces. The Teachers' Col- 
lege could be operated for tAvo or three years on a budget some- 
what beloAv the present combined budgets of the three normal 
schools; later, of course, the budget of the Teachers' College 
would have to be increased considerably if the plan suggested 
above for the training of public school teachers were to be car- 
ried out. It is probable that the Federal Government by that 



' EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 47 

time Avill have adopted some plan of co-operating with the 
states in the support of teacher training agencies. 

In suggesting that the annual cost of operating a single 
institution would be for some time appreciably less than the 
present cost of operating seven institutions, I am pre-suppos- 
ing that the quality of instruction will not only not be lower 
than it is now, but that it will be considerably advanced. I am 
pre-supposing, too, that salaries will be higher and teaching 
programs somewhat lighter. The saving will be effected most 
largely by doing away with small classes and needless duplica- 
tions thus permitting the same amount of work to be done by a 
much smaller staff than the combined faculties of the seven in- 
stitutions now represent. Administrative overhead would not 
be reduced in the same proportions, for each college must have 
its dean and the deans should receive not less than the presi- 
dents of the existing institutions. Clerical overhead, on the 
other hand, should be substantially reduced, while operating 
expenses in connection with supplies, fuel, and library should 
also show a considerable reduction. 

The estimated lower cost of the single institution, it should 
again be noted, does not take into account the interest on the 
investment that would be involved in extending the plant at 
Albuquerque to accommodate the new institutions. 

Any form of centralization, of course, would mean doing 
away with the present governing boards of the several insti- 
tutions and the organization of a new single board. Whether 
consolidation is effected or not, the advantages of a unit board 
for the higher institutions as against multiple boards merit 
serious consideration. In so far as I am informed, every state 
that has in any significant manner reorganized its higher histi- 
tutions during the past two decades has adopted the single- 
board policy. My own belief is that such a board should be 
made up of seven or nine persons each of whom will serve for 
a term of five years. Students of the problem are not in thor- 
ough agreement as to whether such a board sholild be appointed 
by the governor of the state or elected at large by the people. 
The elected board, in my opinion, is to be preferred, chiefly on 
account of its direct responsibility to the people. From my own 
observations and from my experience in working under various 
forms of state educational administration, I am fairly well con- 
vinced that the more unfortunate types of political influence 
do not affect small boards elected at large in the measure that 
such influences affect appointive boards. 

It is generally agreed that boards of control for higher edu- 
cational institutions should be made up of laymen rather than 
of persons engaged professionally in the work of education. 
There should, however, be advisory boards or councils repre- 



48 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

senting the professional interests. In a university organization 
such as that under discussion, it would be advantageous to have 
an advisory council for each of the professional colleges. These 
councils could then co-operate with the faculties of the several 
colleges and with the general senate of the University (made up 
of the full professors of all of the colleges) in the construction 
of educational policies Avhich Avould then be submitted to the 
board of control representing all of the people for adjustment 
where different interests conflicted and for final approval or 
rejection. 

As I have said, the single-board policy should in my judg- 
ment be adopted by New Mexico whether the institutions are 
to be united or whether they are to remain in separate localities. 
Unity in administration will in itself do much to promote co- 
ordination and prevent a wasteful competition among the sev- 
eral institutions. 

I have discussed hitherto only the possibility of promoting 
economy and efficiency through a consolidation of the degree- 
granting institutions in an enlarged University of New Mexico 
to be built up around the present University at Albuquerque. 
It would be possible, of course, to choose some place other than 
Albuquerque for the consolidated institution. In view of the 
expense that would be involved in moving the College of Agri- 
culture to Albuquerque, the location of all of the colleges at 
Las Cruces suggests itself at once as an alternative. The diffi- 
culty in this solution of the problem lies in the fact that Las 
Cruces is a relatively small city, and, while well located to serve 
the southern portion of the state, is much more remote from the 
other sections than is Albuquerque, which, in its turn, is rea- 
sonably accessible from the South. The size of a city and the 
nature of its industries we have already found to be vital fac- 
tors to be considered in locating two of the important colleges 
— the Teachers' College and the College of Engineering. In so 
far as I can see, there is no other town or city in the state that 
offers for the location of the proposed institution advantages 
comparable with those that Albuquerque affords. 

2. A second solution of the problem is to unite all of the 
institutions except the normal schools in a single State Univer- 
sity and to unite the three normal schools in a single teacher 
training- institution. 

If the present normal schools were replaced by a single 
school, the new institution, in my opinion, Avould have to be lo- 
cated at Albuquerque as the only city in the state large enough 
to provide training school facilities. If this were done and if 
the new University were also located at Albuquerque, there 
would be two separate state institutions next door to one an- 
other in the same city. Obviously if the two are located in the 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 49 

same town, they could very profitably be united. The location 
of a separate teachers' college at Albuquerque, however, would 
remove one of the objections to uniting the other colleges in a 
single institution at Las Cruces. 

On the whole, I should speak strongly against separating 
the teacher training functions so sharply from the other phases 
of higher education. In practically every state this sharp dis- 
tinction is made today with the result that the teacher training 
agencies occupy a very subordinate position. They are not 
only discriminated against in the matter of appropriations; 
their subordinate status also makes them less attractive to the 
type of young manhood and young womanhood that the state 
needs in its public school service. Thus to set off the normal 
school as an inferior institution and to give it the lean end of 
public support is not alone or primarily an injustice to the in- 
stitution, to its faculty, or to its students ; beyond all this, and 
vastly more significantly, it is an injustice to the children of 
he_ state who deserve the best teachers that can be attracted to 
this most important bi-anch of the public service. As I have 
said, most of the states today are compounding this injustice by 
nonchalantly permitting their normal schools to remain in aii 
inferior position. If a state has the opportunity that New Mexi- 
co has to place the preparation of all grades of public school 
teachers on a dignified and attractive plane, I do not believe 
that it should let the opportunity slip by. 

3. There is a third possibility which will obviate the diffi- 
culty that I have just referred to. In the event that a consoli- 
dation of all institutions should prove to be impracticable, I 
suggest a reorganization on a plan analogous in many ways to 
that adopted within the past decade by Montana, but with some 
important differences. Montana now maintains at Missoula, a 
college of liberal arts and a college of la^v; at Butte, a school 
of mines; at Dillon, a state teachers' college; and at Bozeman, 
a college of agriculture and a college of engineering. These 
colleges, located at four different centers, form together the 
University of Montana, operating under a single administrative 
board of control and with a single executive head known as 
the Chancellor of the University. 

I believe that, if New Mexico could not see its way clear 
to a single, centrally-located State University, it could at least 
avail itself of the advantages involved in the Montana plan and 
even make some important improvements upon that plan. The 
organization that I should suggest would be, in essence, a Uni- 
versity of New Mexico, comnrisinR- the colleges and secondary 
schools that I have already described, but located in three dif- 
ferent centers as follows : 

(a) A Northen State College, located at Las Vegas or at 



50 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

some other point readily accessible from the northern sections 
of the state. If located at Las Vegas, of course, the present 
plant of the Normal University could be utilized as a nucleus 
for whatever buildings might be needed. The only work of 
collegiate grade in this institution for some time at least would 
probably be that involved in the preparation of teachers. The 
emphasis here would be primarilj^ upon training teachers for 
the rural and urban elementary service. One-year and two-year 
curricula would be developed firet, but these should later be 
expanded into three-year and four-year curricula. Certain types 
of high school teachers and special supervisors might also be 
advantageously prepared here through four-year curricula. 
Until the high schools of the state are well developed, this in- 
stitution should maintain a preparatory department. It should, 
also, in my opinion, offer vocational programs of secondary 
grade in agriculture, home economics, the commercial branches, 
and industrial arts. With the co-operation of the Federal gov- 
ernment through the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Act, the 
expense of such courses to the taxpayers of the state would not 
be excessive and a real ser\'ice would be rendered to the young 
people of northern New Mexico. Short courses in agriculture 
and home economics for adults could also be developed with 
small expense and very great profit. Perhaps, A\4th the co- 
operation of the Federal government, a branch experiment sta- 
tion could at some time in the near future be located nearby. 
It seems to me that such a station is needed in the northern 
part of the state. 

(b) A Central State CoUege, located at Albuquerque. This 
would comprise the present college of liberal arts and a college 
of engineering made up of the present departments of engineer- 
ing together A^-ith the engineering courses transferred from Las 
Cruces and Socorro. AMien the needs and resources of the state 
should warrant additional developments, a College of Law and 
a Central State Teachers' College might well be added. 

(c) A Southern State College, This would best be located 
at Las Cruces in order to take advantage of the plant already 
developed. It would comprise on the collegiate level the State 
College of Agriculture and a State Teachers' College, the nu- 
cleus of the latter to be the departments transferred from the 
present State Normal School at Silver City. The Teachers' 
College should provide at the outset one-year and two-year pro- 
grams for the preparation of elementary rural school and urban 
school teachers; later these should be expanded into three-year 
and ultimately into four-year programs. In co-operation with 
the College of Agriculture, it Avould also prepare, through four- 
year programs, high school teachers of the sciences, of agricul- 
ture, and of home economics. 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 51 

The facilities for the development of a teachers' college at 
Las Cruces are worth serious consideration. The public schools 
of Las Cruces are representative of the school problems of a 
small city; Mesilla Park presents the problems of the smaller 
American community; -ndthin a mile is a native ^"illage repre- 
senting still another type of school problem important in New 
Mexico; and within reasonable distance are rural schools that 
could well serve as rural training centers. The advantages of 
having a teachers' college in close affiliation "sWth an agricul- 
tural college A^dll also be ob^-ious. The rural training depart- 
ment of the former aa^II be in a position to work in close co- 
operation with the county agricultural agents, the boys' and 
girls' club work, and the other activities encouraged by the 
Federal government through the States' Relation Sers'ice of the 
Department of Agriculture. 

On the secondary level, the Southern State College should 
continue the vocational courses and the short courses now of- 
fered by the College of Agriculture. There would also be a 
place for some years to come for a preparatory department 
leading to matriculation in the Teachers' College or in the Col- 
lege of Agriculture. 

By way of summary, the suggestions for this possible form 
of reorganization mav be outlined as folloAvs : 



52 



REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 



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EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 53 

The immediate economies that could be effected by the 
plan just described would be somewhat greater than the im- 
mediate economies involved in the concentration of all of the 
higher work in a single institution at Albuquerque. This would 
be due largely to the fact that the retention of three of the 
plants would do away with the necessity for the large invest- 
ment in new buildings, farms, etc., that an enlarged single in- 
stitution would involve. The expenses of upkeep and overhead 
would of course be higher than for a single institution. It is 
altogether likely that a single institution would prove more 
economical in the end, and that this greater economy would 
ultimately overbalance the larger initial investment that the 
unit form of reorganization Avould involve. This question I 
could not answer Avithout making a very close study of the ex- 
penses that would be involved in the development of an agri- 
cultural college plant at Albuquerque. 

If this three-institution organization of the University of 
New Mexico Avere to be adopted, I should suggest a single 
board such as that proposed for the single-institution plan dis- 
cussed above. Each institution would have its own president 
and, where more than one college is included, a dean for each 
college. ]\rontana's plan of a chancellor to serve as an execu- 
tive for all of the institutions may be essential to the best re- 
sults in administration. I should however, suggest as a possible 
alternative the appointment of an executive secretary of the 
governing board who would not necessarily rank higher than 
the heads of the three colleges, but Avho would in some measure 
personify the unifying functions of the board. 

There are doubtless combinations that are possible in addi- 
tion to the three that I have discussed. No others seem to me, 
however to merit serious consideration. 

In conclusion and by way of a brief summary I should re- 
commend to the people of New Mexico: (1) that they lay the 
foundations of a strong and pervasive system of public educa- 
tion by making the primary purpose of their higher institutions 
the preparation of teachers for the public schools; (2) that 
they encourage the development of high schools throughout the 
state; (3) that they emphasize in the higher institutions, in ad- 
dition to the preparation of teachers, the kinds of education 
upon which the state will be most directly dependent for its 
material prosperity, especially technical education in agricul- 
ture and mining; "(4) that, until the high school system iswell 
established, secondary work be provided for in the state insti- 
tutions Avith especial emphasis upon agricultural, industrial, 
and household arts courses in the maintenance of Avhich the 
Federal government will participate under the terms of the' 



54 REPORT OX NEW MEXICO 

Smith-Hughes Act ; and {5) that the existing higher institutions 
be united preferably in one strong central institution, or at 
most in three state colleges under a unified control. 

Respectfully submitted. 

WILLIA]^! C. BAGLEY. 

New York Citv. December IS. 1920. 



EDUCATONAL INSTITUTIONS 55 

Stanford University. California. 
January 6, 1921. 

Mr. H. J. Hagerman, 

Chairman Special Kevenue Commission, 
Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

Dear Sir : 

On my arrival home from a trip into Arizona and Southern 
California I find the report prepared by Professor Bagley. for 
your Commission, awaiting me. I have read it through care- 
fully three time ; first hastily to get its general outlines ; sec- 
ond as a careful study, vriih such data as I could collect on 
your institutions in our library here ; and finally again as a 
hasty going over to get it once more as a whole. We happen 
to have a fairly good collection of catalogues here, and I have 
gone over these, as well as U. S. Commissioner of Education 
data. I have spent something near four days in studying the 
conditions, as well as one could at a distance, and in trying to 
estimate the value of the various recommendations which Pro- 
fessor Bagley makes. 

Since I agree with him in almost all his recommendations, 
I take it that you do not want a detailed statement from me, 
but rather a brief estimate of what he has reported to you. 

I thoroughly agree with him that the State of Xew Mexico 
is maintaining far too many state institutions, and that these 
should be combined into not more than three. The Spanish- 
American Normal School at El Rito. I should recommend 
abandonment of entirely, and for the same reasons as given by 
Professor Bagley. The Military Institute at Roswell. I am in- 
clined to recommend should also be abandoned, though, from 
my examination of its catalogue. I am inclined to believe that 
this is an unusually efficient institution. My recommendation 
in this case is based, as in the case of the Spanish- American 
Normal School at El Rito. on the fundamental proposition that 
there can be little reason in the future, regardless of what may 
have been the motives at the time they were created, for the 
taxing of the state to maintain schools of secondary grade. The 
maintenance of such should be a local matter, and as a part of 
the public school system, the state confining itself to higher 
education. 

The School of !Mines at Socorro should also be abandoned. 
I can see little justification for the maintenance of a separate 
institution for instruction in mining, and many reasons for the 
combining of such instruction with other engineering and 
scientific work at the University. Stanford University has. for 
a quarter of a century, trained mining engineers for all parts 



56 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

of the world, and we have no mmes near at hand. One of the 
most successful School of Mines in the United States is at Co- 
lumbia University, in New York City. Generally speaking, 
over the United States, Schools of Mines that have been inde- 
pendent and isolated have amounted to little, while the suc- 
cessful institutions have been a part of a large university in- 
stitution. For educational reasons, as well as for motives of 
economy, I would recommend the abandonment of the School 
of Mines at Socorro and the transfer of the work to the State 
University at Albuquerque. 

While the state's greatest professional need at present, 
and probably for a long time to come, will be for teachers, I 
quite agree with Professor Bagley that the Normal School at 
Silver City is poorly located, and ought to be abandoned as a 
normal school and the work transferred and combined with one 
or more of the other existing state institutions. 

The question then remains of three institutions or one. I 
tend to favor the three-institution plan, as outlined by Pro- 
fessor Bagley in his report on page 52. The three institutions 
at Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Las Cruces are well located to 
meet the needs of the three main lines of travel in your state, 
the plants represent value and are fairly well adapted to the 
needs of the future, the agricultural work at Las Cruces repre- 
sents a type of farming that Ncav Mexico needs to experiment 
with, and would need to be maintained as a branch institution 
under any plan, and it is almost certain that three institutions, 
located iii the three main sections of your state and accessible 
through the three main lines of travel, will meet the needs 
of a larger number of students and be of more service to your 
state than will one. It seems to me to be almost certain that if 
all are combined in one now it will only be a matter of a short 
time, in a state so large as yours, before a succeeding legisla- 
ture will recreate some one or more of the abandoned schools, 
and the economies now effected will be lost and new expenses 
involved that will ultimately cost the state still larger sums. 

I also approve heartily the division of work between the 
three institutions, and the plan for their future development, 
as outlined bv Professor Bagley on page 62. It is sensible, and 
at the same time an economical program. 

New Mexico is certain to increase in population in the near 
future, possibly rather rapidly, but even though no increase in 
population should occur there is certain to be a marked in- 
crease in high school pupils and graduates in the near future. 
Teaching, too, Avith better salaries for the work and a slowing 
down of the many new lines of employment which were opened 
to women by the war, is almost certain to come back as an at- 
tractive career for women and draM^ many into it who now go 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 57 

to other lines of service. Looking ahead only a few years, it 
seems to me, you can count on from 800 to 1000 new students 
entering the three state institutions each year. While this 
number could of course be accommodated in one central state 
university, the limits of practice school facilities there, the de- 
mands of your agriculture, and the need for looking ahead 
and anticipating demands in the future for the creation of new 
state institutions, together with the desirability of providing 
institutions so located that the needs of your state may be best 
met, all incline me to recommend the three-institution plan as 
outlined by Professor Bagley on page 52. 

In only one recommendation do I strongly disagree with 
Professor Bagley, and that relates to the creation of a unifying 
state board to control the three state institutions, should your 
legislature so decide the problem. He favors their election by 
the people, while it seems to me that the evidence from prac- 
tice in the United States distinctly favors their nomination by 
the governor. Better men can be secured for the work of man- 
agement, and the institutions kept freer from politics, assum- 
ing that governors are inclined to be favorable to educational 
interests. The most desirable men for such positions seldom 
get nominated under the popular election plan. 

In closing let me urge that, while economy in operation is 
desirable, there can after all be little cutting down of expenses 
for so important and so rapidly growing an undertaking as ed- 
ucation. The demands of the future are certain to be larger 
and more costly, and a constantly larger percentage of the 
state's children will come up demanding to be cared for. The 
problem is not one of reducing expenses, but rather one^ of 
spending what must be spent in a better way, and of securing 
as large returns as possible for the money that is expended. 

Expressing my appreciation of the importance of what 
you have undertaken, and wishing you success in effecting 
combinations, I am, 

Very truly yours, 

ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY, 

Dean School of Education, Stanford University. 



58 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 

January 21, 1921. 

Mr. H. J. Hagernian, 

Chairman, Special Revenue Commission, 
Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

My Dear Mr. Hagerman : 

I have read carefully Dr. Bagiey's report on the Higher 
Educational Institutions of New Mexico, and I am glad to re- 
port to you that I find myself in agreement with his major 
recommendations. 

Nothing in my opinion is more important than that the 
qualifications of teachers should be raised during the period of 
the next six years as is proposed in Dr. Bagiey's report. The 
standards Avhich he suggests and the movement from the pres- 
ent situation to the higher standards seems to me to be entirely 
feasible. I agree with Dr. Bagley as to the necessity of revis- 
ing the curricula of the schools, and the advisability of aban- 
doning the school at El Rito. It seems to me most unfortunate 
that teachers of Spanish speaking children should be educated 
separate from the other teachers of the state. I should hope 
that the state should soon require English to be the language 
of instruction in all schools, and that all teachers be well quali- 
fied in the English language. If the Americanization of the 
Spanish part of the population is to be carried forward, I know 
of nothing more important than that those who are to teach 
Spanish speaking children be themselves taught in schools 
along with others who are preparing to teach. 

I am persuaded that Dr. Bagley makes a clear case with 
respect to the School of Mines. The benefit derived is certain- 
ly very small, and the school as a separate institution should 
certainly be abandoned. 

I agree as well with his recommendation with respect to 
the Military Institute. I understand that a special land grant 
together with the fees of students furnish the funds for the 
greater part of the institution. I assume, therefore, that it can 
be continued without adding in any considerable degree to the 
tax burden of the state. 

Neither the El Rito Normal School nor the School of 
Mines, as separate institutions, should continue to be a burden 
upon the taxable wealth of the state. Courses offered in the 
School of Mines could very well be taught in the School of Ag- 
riculture, unless it is decided to transfer all engineering 
courses to the University of New Mexico from the Agricultural 
College. 

It seems to me very clear that higher education should be 
under one board. I am inclined to believe that a small board 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 59 

elected at large is less apt to play politics, or to be affected by 
unfortunate political influences than is an appointed board. 

With respect to the possible consolidation of institutions, 
I think the ideal situation would be to unite all of them into 
one state institution. If this is not done, the one most desirable 
procedure in my judgment would be to provide, as Prof. Bag- 
ley has suggested, a northern state college at Las Vegas, a cen- 
tral college at Albuquerque, and a southern at Las Cruces. I 
agree with his recommendations with respect to the curricula 
to be offered in these three institutions. 

In stating my agreement with Prof. Bagley's recommen- 
dations I do so with a firm conviction that he has a sufficient 
basis in fact and in first hand view of the situation to have jus- 
tified what seems to me to be the very sound argument back of 
his recommendations. 

Yours sincerely, 

GEORGE D. STRAYER. 



60 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 



APPENDIX 
Data Copied From "'Who's Who in America." 

BAGLEY, ^V^.LLOI CHANDLER.— University prof. ; b. 
Detroit. March 15. ISci: s. William Chase and Ruth (Walker) 
B.: B.S.. Mich. Agrl. Coll.. 1S95 : M.S.. U. of Wis.. 1898; Ph.D.. 
Cornell U., 1900; (Ed.D., R. I. State Coll., 1919) ; m. Florence 
MacLean Winger, of Lincoln Xeb., Aug. 14, 1901. Teacher 
pub. schs., and normal schools. 1895-7, 1901-8 ; prof, edn., U. of 
m.. 1908-17. Teachers Coll. (Columbia U.) 1917—. During the 
war edited Nat. School Service (Com. on Pub. Information). 
Trustee Berea Coll., Ky. Fellow A.A.A.S. ; mem. X.E.A. (mem. 
emergencv Commn.. 1918 — ). Xat. Soc. for Studv of Edn. (pres., 
1911-12). Soc. Coll. Teachers of Edn. (pres.. 1918-19). Sigma XI. 
Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Delta Kappa, Phi Delta Theta. CLub: 
Authors. Author : The Educative Process. 1905 : Classroom 
Management. 1907 ; Craftsmanship in Teaching. 1911 ; Educa- 
tional Values. 1911; Human Behavior (with S. S. Colvin), 
1913 : School Discipline. 1915 : History of the American People 
rwith C. A. Beard), 1918: The Preparation of Teachers (with 
W. S. Learned). 1919. Home: Pleasant ville. X. Y. 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 61 



CUBBERLY. Ellwcod Patterson, university prof.; b. An- 
drews Ind June 6. 1S68 : s. Edwin Blanchard and Kate i Cor- 
vell) C.; A. B. Ind. U.. 1891; A. M.. Columbia. 1902. Pb. D 
1905 • m' Helen Van Uxem, of Ricbmond. Ind.. June lo. Ib92. 
Prof 'and pres. Vincennes U., 1891-6 ; city supt. schs.. San Diego, 
Cal 1896-8 : Asso. prof. edn.. Leland Stanford Jr. L .. 189b-06. 
prof 1906—. Lecturer. Columbia U.. 1907. 14. 16. Chicago L ., 
1910 Harvard U 1910-11. Mem. Baltimore Ednl. Commn.. 1911, 
Butte Sch. SurA-ev Bd.. 1914: dir. Portland (Ore.) Sch. Survey 
1913 Salt Lake Citv School Survey. 1915. and Oakland. < L a U 
School Survev. 1915. Author : Syllabus of Lectures on the His- 
tor yof Education, 1902. 2d edit.. 1904: School Funds and Their 
Apportionment, 1905 : Certification of Teachers. 1906 ; Chang- 
ing Conceptions of Education. 1909 : The Improvement of Rural 
Schools 1911 ; Rural Life and Education. 1913 : State and Coun- 
tv Educational Reorganization. 1914 : Public School Adminis- 
tration. 1915 : School Organization and Administration. 191b : 
Public Education in the United States, 1919 : and (with E. C. 
Elliott) State and Countv School Administration. Vol. II. 
Sources. 1915. Editor Riverside Text Books in Education 
series. Address : Stanford Tniversity. Cal. 



62 REPORT ON NEW MEXICO 



STRAYER, George Drayton, college prof. ; b. Wayne, Pa., 
Nov. 29, 1876 ; s. Daniel Jacob Reese and Mary Anna Walton 
(Ott)S.; Bncknell U.,1896-7; A.B., Johns Hopkins, 1903 ; grad. 
scholar, 1903-4, fellow in edn., 1904-5, Ph. D., 1905, Columbia ; 
m. Cora Bell, of Baltimore, Sept. 17, 1903. Teacher and prin. of 
elementary schs., 1893-6, secondary schs., 1898-1903 ; instr. ele- 
mentary edn., 1905-7, adj. prof., 1907-10, prof, of edn. adminis- 
tration, 1910—, Teachers Coll. (Columbia U.). Mem. N.E.A. 
(pres. 1918-19), Nat. Council N.E.A., Nat. Soc. for Study of 
Edn. (pres. 1918-19), Assn. Coll. Teacher's of Edn., Phi Beta 
Kappa; fellow A.A.A.S. Home dir. Y.M.C.A. Overseas Ednl. 
Commn., 1918 ; dir. sch. campaign for Nat. War Savings Com.. 
U. S. Treasury Dept., 1918, chmn. Commn. on Emergency in 
End., N.E.A., 1918 ; chmn. Advisory Com. on Federal Pub. Schs., 
1918. Presbyn. Author: City School Expenditures, 1905; The 
Teaching Process, 1911 ; Retardation and Elimination in Schools 
and Colleges, 1911 ; Educational Administration (with E. L. 
Thorndike), 1913; How to Teach (with Naomi Norsworthy), 
1917; The Class Room Teacher (with N. L. Engelhardt), 1920. 
Editor of American Educational Series, for Am. Book Co. ; 
editor Jour. Ednl. Research. Member bd. editors Educational 
Administration and Supervision. Pub. lecturer and contbr. to 
ednl. mags. Address: Teachers College, New York, N. Y. 



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